Tech Talk

A 32-year-old Minnesota mother of four was fined $1.9 million Thursday for the illegal downloads of 24 songs — all available for 99 cents each, CNN reported on its Web site.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset’s attorney, Joe Sibley, said he would appeal the federal jury’s decision that works out to $80,000 per song.  CNN reported it was the first such copyright infringement case to go to trial in America.  The jury could have awarded up to $150,000 per song.

Cara Duckworth, a Recording Industry Association of America spokesman, told the cable news network that her organization was “pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable.”

Thomas-Rasset called the $1.9 million figure “kind of ridiculous,” the Associated Press reported.

“There’s no way they’re ever going to get that,” she told the wire agency.  “I’m a mom, limited means, so I’m not going to worry about it now.”

Thomas-Rasset downloaded music from artists that included No Doubt, Linkin Park, Gloria Estefan and Sheryl Crow through the filing-sharing program, Kazaa, the AP reported.  She had denied downloading any songs.

Kazaa has since become a legal music subscription service following a settlement with entertainment companies.

Sibley told the AP that the judgment suggested that jurors did not believe his client’s denials of illegal file-sharing, and that they were angry with her.

This was Thomas-Rasset’s second trial.  A different federal jury ordered her to pay a mere $222,000 in 2007.  The case was later overturned and a new trial was ordered.

A spokeswoman for the RIAA said the industry is still willing to settle the case, the AP reported Thursday. But she refused to name a figure.  She had, however, said, Thomas-Rasset had been given the opportunity to settle for $3,000 to $5,000 earlier in the case.

“Since Day One we have been willing to settle this case and we remain willing to do so,” Duckworth was quoted by the AP as saying.

Thomas-Rasset was originally accused of sharing 1,700 songs on Kazaa in February 2005, but was only charged with 24 for simplicity sake, the AP reported.

This case was the only one of more than 30,000 similar lawsuits to make it to trial, the AP reported.  The majority of others had settled for about $3,500 each with the music industry.  The recording industry said it stopped filing such lawsuits last summer and is now working with Internet service providers to battle the worst offenders.

Only a few hundred lawsuits remain unresolved, the AP reported.  Of those, fewer than 10 defendants are actively fighting.

SOUND OFF: Do you think the jury award was appropriate in this case?  What should, if anything, be done to prevent illegal file sharing?