Citation[]
Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas, 579 F.Supp.2d 1210 (D. Minn. 2008) (full-text).
Factual Background[]
Plaintiff record companies sued defendant Thomas for copyright infringement, alleging that the defendant illegally downloaded and distributed plaintiffs’ sound recordings via the online peer-to-peer file sharing application known as Kazaa.
District Court Proceedings[]
The court held that the actual dissemination of copyrighted sound recordings, rather than making them available for dissemination through an online peer-to-peer file sharing application, was required to establish “distribution” within the meaning of the Copyright Act, and that the jury instruction on “distribution” was erroneous.