News.blog: File sharer loses $220,000 case

A Minnesota woman must pay $220,000 (£108,000) to six of the top music labels after a federal jury found on Thursday that she violated their copyright.

Accused of encouraging the illegal sharing of more than 1,700 songs, Jammie Thomas, 30, elected to fight it out in court with the recording industry instead of settling for far less money. The ensuing legal battle marked the first time the recording industry has argued a file-sharing case before a jury.

Many of the 26,000 persons sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) since 2003 have avoided litigation by agreeing to pay a few thousand dollars. Thomas, who could not be reached for comment, has always maintained her innocence. Accused of sharing music through the use of peer-to-peer file-sharing service, Kazaa, she told the jury that she didn't even own a Kazaa account.

The jury didn't buy her argument. Thomas was ordered to pay $9,250 (£4,500) for each of the 24 songs that the RIAA concentrated on. She was initially accused of sharing 1,702 songs. The decision is important in that it sends a message to file sharers that Internet anonymity won't protect them from lawsuits, said Chris Castle, a copyright attorney and longtime music industry executive.

Castle said the Web makes it simple to hide. Proving who was sitting at a computer at any given time is very difficult for copyright owners. What is precedent setting about this case is that the jury decided it doesn't matter who was sharing music on Thomas' computer.

"The answer that the court gave was 'It's your account, you're responsible,'" Castle said. "'It's your screen name. You pay the bills. It's in your house. You are on the hook for it.'"

This is likely not the end of the case, according to Fred von Lohmann, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for Internet users. Late Thursday evening, von Lohmann said that he had heard from several copyright attorneys who had expressed interest in representing Thomas should she want to appeal the decision.

"There are a lot of copyright lawyers who would be interested in helping her if she wants to continue this," von Lohmann said. "I'd imagine that she doesn't want to pay $200,000. We'll see what she wants to do."