Woman Owes $220,000 for Illegal Downloads

Jammie Thomas was convicted on October 4, for illegal sharing copyrighted music on Kazaa - an online file sharing account. She is ordered to pay a total of $220,000 or $950 for each of the 24 songs that the record company said was ‘stolen.’ This is only the first case out of six that are currently suing Ms. Thomas, for offering 1,702 songs on her online account. The companies that are suing Jammie are Sony BMG, Arista Records, Interscope Records, UMG Recordings, Capitol Records and Warner Bros. Records. Jammie is 30 years old, a single mother and says that she did nothing wrong and that she doesn’t even have a Kazaa account.

Record companies have filed 26,000 lawsuits since 2003 because file sharing allows people to download music without having to pay for it. This hurts both the record label and the artist because no money is being made for that download. Other people that have been sued previously, have only been made to pay a few thousand dollars.

The record company offered the testimony that the username “Tereastarr” was registered under Jammie’s name. This was backed up with confirmation from the internet provider and a separate security firm. Jammie’s lawyer at closing stated that “Jammie Thomas, a human being, got on her keyboard and sent out these things," was never actually proven. The lawyer for the music industry asked the jury to find Jammie guilty and set an example for all other illegal downloaders. If someone breaks a copyright law, the person must pay between $750 to $30,000 for each downloaded song, or $150,000 if the person knowingly and willingly went and downloaded.

Downloading without ever paying for it, has "become business as usual, nobody really thinks about it," said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, that handles the lawsuits. "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."