Songs that would cost most people just 99 cents each could soak a Minnestota mother of four out of $1.92 million. Yes, you read correctly.
In the second file-sharing copyright-infringement trial against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a Minnesota jury ruled that she owes $1.92 million to the four major labels after illegally downloading and sharing 24 songs.
The whopping amount comes out to a cost of $80,000 per track illegally shared, and the RIAA hopes this will finally put an end to illegal downloading.
First case thrown out
"We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable" RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth
"We are pleased that the jury agreed with the evidence and found the defendant liable," RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth said in a statement.
In 2007, Thomas-Rasset was found guilty for similar charges and was hit with $222,000 in damages. But while that verdict was thrown out because of an error in jury instructions, it helped set the stage for a retrial - and the new ruling.
Thomas had used the peer-to-peer network Kazaa to download and store roughly 1,702 songs in her folder. However, her trial focused on only 24 of them, including songs by Green Day, Janet Jackson, Godsmack and Richard Marx.
As to comment, Thomas-Rasset called the verdict "kind of ridiculous."
Especially when it involves downloading a Richard Marx song.
