Lobbying body the Electronic Frontier Foundation is supporting Jammie Thomas, that file sharer found guilty of copyright infringement in the US courts last week, and fined $222,000. As previously reported, although some of the press coverage of the high profile case, the first file sharing case to go before a jury, has criticised the Recording Industry Association Of America for continuing to pursue litigation against individuals like Thomas, some coverage this week has favoured the trade body, many quoting one juror from the case who branded Thomas a "liar" and said some members of the jury wanted a larger fine.
But the EFF has said it is challenging a jury instruction given during the case which, it says, was incorrect and which will have influenced the jury's quick decision to rule against Thomas. They say that the jury were told that making tracks available on a P2P network automatically equates with "active distribution", something they dispute. EFF legal man Fred von Lohmann told reporters: "If the appeals court rejects that jury instruction, the verdict against Ms Thomas would have to be thrown out and the case retried".
Thomas has already announced she intends to appeal, despite her mounting legal costs and the opinion of many commentators that she has a very weak case.