Woman faces $1.9 million file-sharing fine

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 19 Jun 2009 at 09:43

A woman accused of illegally downloading 24 songs gasped as a judge ordered her to pay $1.9 million in damages to the RIAA.

Jammie Thomas-Rasset stood trial in the US for downloading and sharing 24 songs, and was ordered to pay $80,000 per track in damages.

This is Thomas-Rasset's second trial. The first - in which she was ordered to pay $222,000 in damages - was declared a mistrial by the judge.

In that case she argued that a third party may be to blame, hacking their way into her Wi-Fi connection. However, she did not own a wireless router at the time.

In the second case she suggested that perhaps it was her children who had used Kazaa to download the files.

"They did their job," she said, speaking about the RIAA outside court. "I'm not going to hold it against them."

However, she was quick to point out the likelihood that the RIAA would collect the unprecedentedly large sum.

"Good luck trying to get it from me," she said. "It's like squeezing blood from a turnip."

Despite winning the case, the RIAA has said that it is still willing to settle the case out of court.

"Since day one we have been willing to settle this case... and we remain willing to do so," said Cara Duckworth, a spokesperson for the RIAA.

Under US law a jury is entitled to request damages of up to $150,000 per track, although in out-of-court settlements the RIAA typically asks for $3,500 for each song.