Music labels win $2m retrial of Kazaa file sharing case

LONDON - The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade body for music labels such as Universal and Warner, has been awarded $1.92m in damages in the retrial of the Kazaa music swapping case of US woman Jammie Thomas-Rasset.

For the second time a federal jury has found Thomas-Rasset guilty of copyright infringement, requiring the single mother to pay $80,000 for each of the 24 songs she uploaded on the peer-to-peer site Kazaa.

The case originally went to trial in 2007, where a jury awarded the RIAA damages of $9,250 per song, or $222,000 -- a decision which was later thrown out of court by Judge Michael Davis.

A new lawyer and jury were not enough for Thomas-Rasset and it remains unclear if the RIAA and the four major labels -- EMI, Universal, Sony and Warner -- intend to collect damages.

Cara Duckworth, spokeswoman for the RIAA, said: "Since day one, we have been willing to settle this case and we remain willing to do so."

After the verdict, Thomas-Rasset said: "Good luck trying to get it from me, it's like squeezing blood from a turnip."

Thomas-Rasset and her lawyer Kiwi Camara said they remain open to the idea of a settlement, but there are signs the two intend to continue the battle with the RIAA through appeals and counter-filings.

After the verdict Thomas-Rasset said the case was "one for the RIAA, not the end of the war".

Earlier this month, Camara announced his plans to a file class-action lawsuit against the recording industry in an attempt to retrieve all the money it has collected during the course of its campaign against illegal downloaders.

Since 2007 the RIAA has brought more than 35,000 lawsuits against people it claimed were illegally sharing music. The Thomas-Rasset case is the only one that has gone to trial.

Thomas-Rasset pleaded her innocence despite evidence pointing to her PC, modem, Ethernet port and Kazaa username as the offending articles.

The jury found her actions to be wilful, meaning damages could range anywhere between $750 to $150,000 per infringement.

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