MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti) - A U.S. woman was found guilty of illegally downloading 24 songs from the Internet and ordered to pay a $1.9 million fine, $80,000 for each song, CNN reported Friday.
The attorney for Minnesota resident Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, said this was the first such copyright violation case to be tried in the United States, adding that the woman intends to appeal the federal jury verdict.
Thomas-Rasset downloaded songs by such artists as No Doubt, Linkin Park, Gloria Estefan and Sheryl Crow. The trial was her second court appearance in connection with illegal downloading. In 2007, when a court ruled that she pay $220,000 to sound recording companies, the judge ordered a retrial over an error in the wording of jury instructions.
Attorney Joe Sibley said that the official price for each song his client had downloaded was 99 cents, adding that the woman was shocked at the size of the fine.
A spokeswoman for the Recording Industry Association of America said the association was pleased at the jury ruling.
