Minneapolis Woman fined $1.92 Million For Music Piracy

Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 32-year old single mother from Minneapolis, was ordered by a US jury to pay a fine of $1.92 million on Thursday the 18th for illegally downloading 24 songs from the file-sharing program Kazaa. Each song carries a fine of $80,000.

Thomas-Rasset tried to argue that the songs might have been downloaded by her children or former husband, but was found liable of violating the copyrights of several major labels, including Sony BMG, Warner Brothers and Universal.

The case was filed by the Recording Industry Association of America, who have fined thousands of people for illegally downloading and sharing music over the last few years. Thomas-Rasset was the first to refuse a settlement, and took the case to court.

Thomas-Rasset had previously been ordered to pay $220,000 in October 2007, but the judge rejected the verdict and ordered a retrial, because it was “wholly disproportionate” and “oppressive.” This time, however, she wasn’t so lucky. The result of the most recent trial has brought the fine up by over $1.7 million.