MINNEAPOLIS - A jury was selected and opening statements were expected later Monday in Minneapolis in a replay for the only music file-sharing defendant so far to go to trial in the United States.
Thirty-two-year-old Jammie Thomas-Rasset of Brainerd, Minn., lost her first trial in 2007 when a jury in Duluth awarded the recording companies US$222,000.
But U.S. District Judge Michael Davis later concluded he made a mistake in his jury instructions and ordered the retrial.
This time, Davis will tell jurors the recording companies need to prove that someone actually downloaded the music that Thomas-Rasset allegedly made available over the Internet. Last time, he told the jury the plaintiffs didn't have to prove anyone downloaded the copyright-protected songs.
The companies suing are subsidiaries of four major recording companies.
