Woman loses music downloading appeal

Published 9:02 am Wednesday, September 12, 2012

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota woman accused of sharing songs online owes record companies $222,000 for willful copyright violations, a federal appeals court said Tuesday, reversing a lower court’s ruling in a long-running lawsuit over music downloading.

A three-judge appeals panel ruled that Chief U.S. District Judge Michael Davis erred when he cut the award against Jammie Thomas-Rasset to $54,000.

The Brainerd woman’s case was one of only two lawsuits to go to trial out of more than 30,000 filed by the recording industry in a drive to stop the unauthorized free downloading of copyrighted music, which the industry says has cut deeply into its revenues. The vast majority settled for about $3,500 apiece.

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The U.S. Supreme Court in May refused to hear an appeal by former Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum of a $675,000 award in the other case, but he has vowed to keep fighting.