DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - The recording industry won a key fight Thursday against illegal music downloading when a federal jury found a Minnesota woman shared copyrighted music online and levied $220,000 in damages against her.
Record companies have filed some 26,000 lawsuits since 2003 over file-sharing, which has hurt sales because it allows people to get music for free instead of paying for recordings in stores.
This was the first such case to go to trial. Many other defendants have settled by paying the companies a few thousand dollars.
The jury ordered Jammie Thomas, 30, to pay the six record companies that sued her $9,250 for each of 24 songs they focused on in the case. They had alleged she shared 1,702 songs in all.
The companies accused Thomas, 30, of Brainerd, of offering the songs online through a Kazaa file-sharing account. She denied wrongdoing and testified that she didn't have a Kazaa account.
During the three-day trial, the record companies presented evidence they said showed the copyrighted songs were offered by a Kazaa user under the name 'tereastarr.'
Their witnesses, including officials from an Internet provider and a security firm, testified that the Internet address used by 'tereastarr' belonged to Thomas.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- An attorney for six major music companies urged a federal jury Thursday to find a Minnesota woman illegally downloaded and shared music online, activity he said has gnawed at the industry's bottom line.
If the jurors find Jammie Thomas, 30, did violate copyrights, the companies suing her then want them to hold her liable for damages that could amount to millions of dollars.
Record companies have filed some 26,000 lawsuits since 2003 claiming their music's been misused. The case against Thomas, a mother of two from Brainerd, is the first to go to trial. Many other defendants settled by paying the record companies a few thousand dollars.
Regardless of how the first trial of a person accused of illegally sharing music online turns out, a spokesman for a record industry group said companies plan to keep suing listeners.
Richard Gabriel, the lead attorney for six companies that sued Thomas, didn't ask jurors to award a particular dollar amount or to find Thomas willfully infringed on copyrights.
'I only ask that you consider that the need for deterrence here is great,' he said.
Thomas had testified that she did nothing wrong. Her attorney, Brian Toder, argued Thursday that music companies presented plenty of technical evidence but never proved that 'Jammie Thomas, a human being, got on her keyboard and sent out these things.'
'We don't know what happened,' Toder told jurors. 'All we know is that Jammie Thomas didn't do this.'
Gabriel called such assertions 'misdirection, red herrings, smoke and mirrors.'
The record companies' evidence included testimony that sought to link Thomas to a Kazaa file-sharing account that held the copyrighted material. Thomas testified that she never had a Kazaa account, but acknowledged giving conflicting dates for the replacement of her computer hard drive -- something Gabriel suggested was done to cover her tracks.
The companies are seeking damages regarding 24 songs the trial focused on, not the 1,702 that were described in their complaint.
During their deliberations Thursday, the 12-member jury asked U.S. District Judge Michael Davis about the range of penalties if they found Thomas willfully violated copyrights. He consulted with the attorneys, who agreed the range was $750 to $150,000 per song, and Davis said he would tell the jury that.
Earlier Thursday, Davis ruled the record companies did not have to prove songs on Thomas's computer were transferred to other users for her to be found liable. The act of making the files available would constitute copyright infringement, he said.
Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, which coordinates the lawsuits, said companies will keep filing them.
'We think we're in for a long haul in terms of establishing that music has value, that music is property, and that property has to be respected,' said Sherman.
Sherman said Wednesday night that he's surprised it took this long for one of the industry lawsuits to go to trial.
After four years, he said, 'it's become business as usual, nobody really thinks about it. This case has put it back in the news. Win or lose, people will understand that we are out there trying to protect our rights.'
The record companies involved in the lawsuit are Sony BMG, Arista Records LLC, Interscope Records, UMG Recordings Inc., Capitol Records Inc. and Warner Bros. Records Inc.
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