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Woman to pay $1.5m for downloading music

ABC November 5, 2010, 2:53 pm



A US jury has ordered a Minnesota woman to pay $US1.5 million for illegally downloading 24 songs in a high-profile digital piracy case. Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother of four, was found liable by a jury on Wednesday (local time) of copyright infringement for using Kazaa, a peer-to-peer file-sharing network, to download the songs from the internet. She has been ordered to pay $US62,500 for each of the 24 songs - a total of $US1.5 million.

The verdict is the third in the long-running case and it has been welcomed by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "We are again thankful to the jury for its service in this matter and that they recognised the severity of the defendant's misconduct," the RIAA said in a statement. "Now with three jury decisions behind us, along with a clear affirmation of Ms Thomas-Rasset's wilful liability, it is our hope that she finally accepts responsibility for her actions," it added.

In June 2009, a jury ordered Thomas-Rasset to pay $US1.92 million to six record companies: Capitol Records; Sony BMG Music; Arista Records; Interscope Records; Warner Bros Records; and UMG Recordings. Thomas-Rasset was convicted previously in October 2007 and ordered to pay $US220,000 in damages, but the judge who presided over that trial threw out the verdict calling it "wholly disproportionate" and "oppressive."

The RIAA and major music labels brought suit against thousands of people for illegally downloading and sharing music. Most agreed to settlements of between $US3,000 and $US5,000. Thomas-Rasset, however, has consistently refused to settle the case. In December 2008, the RIAA said it would stop suing people who download music illegally and focus instead on getting internet service providers to take action.