Since filing the first of over 20,000 file-sharing lawsuits in 2004, the RIAA has seen every one of them either dismissed or settled
—almost all in favor of the record industry. That’s going to change Tuesday, as a jury trial in Virgin Records America, et al v. Jammie Thomas is set to begin in Duluth, Minnesota.

In many ways, the case mirrors the other contested file-sharing cases. But Thomas’ defense is focusing on what it sees as a key weakness in the RIAA’s case, the ownership of the copyrights to the 26 songs allegedly found by SafeNet. The RIAA submitted screenshots of the shared folder SafeNet discovered on KaZaA, stipulating that the plaintiffs owned the copyright to the songs. One problem: the documentation provided by the RIAA doesn’t appear to support the claim.

Why are people still using KaZaA?

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