Capitol Records v. Thomas

Citation: Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas, 579 F.Supp.2d 1210 (D. Minn. 2008).

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.