Brainerd Woman Loses Music Downloading Appeal
Posted at: 03/18/2013 9:49 AM
| Updated at: 03/18/2013 9:56 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from a Minnesota woman who has been ordered to pay record companies $222,000 for the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted music.
The justices did not comment Monday in letting stand the judgment against Jammie Thomas-Rasset of Brainerd, Minn. She claimed in court papers that the ordered payment was excessive.
The music industry filed thousands of lawsuits against people it accused of downloading music without permission and without paying for it. Almost all the cases settled for $3,500.
Lawyer Kiwi Camara said Thomas-Rasset is one of only two defendants whose case went to trial. The other is former Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum, who also lost and was ordered to pay $675,000.
The case is Thomas-Rasset v. Capitol Records, 12-715.
Thomas-Rasset says she can't pay
Thomas-Rasset says she presumes her case is over.
She says she's not certain what happens next and will have to consult with her attorneys. But she says she assumes that she's run out of options for appeals in the long-running case, which dates back to 2006.
And the 35-year-old says there's still no way the record companies can collect anything from her. She says she has no assets and qualifies for energy assistance because she has four kids and her husband isn't working. Their only income is from her job with the Mille Lacs tribal government.
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