After expressing doubts about the validity of his decision, Judge Michael Davis of the Duluth, Minnesota District Court, threw away his initial ruling from back in October that sentenced Jammie Thomas to pay $222,000 to the RIAA for copyright infringement. Thomas had used Kazaa to download 24 songs. The judge granted her a new trial, as he said he might do back in May.

Jammie Thomas is so far the only person to be tried for copyright infringement and ruled against. With the current mistrial ruling, the success counter for the RIAA drops back to nil.

Judge Davis based his decision on the fact that he incorrectly instructed the jury back in the October trial as to what constitutes making a copyrighted material available. The RIAA argued that simply downloading the music to a shared folder is the same as making it available for distribution. This means that the RIAA needn’t prove that anyone ever actually downloaded the files from Thomas’ computer. The judge told the jury to disregard the need for such proof, and has now gone back on his decision.

The judge also had some words to say to congress, urging them to amend the Copyright Act, due to the fact that in its current form it allows the RIAA to interpret the law in such a way that it does not need to prove actual infringement, and in addition correct the disproportionate liability and damages in such cases, as the RIAA had initially received damages payment far greater than it sustained.

"The Court does not condone Thomas's actions, but it would be a farce to say that a single mother's acts of using Kazaa are the equivalent, for example, to the acts of global financial firms illegally infringing on copyrights in order to profit in the securities market," said the judge reffering to the high profile case the RIAA cited to justify their large damages claim.