Support our non-partisan non-profit newsroom 💜 Donate now
Codebreaker

Minnesota mom fined $1.5 million for downloading music

John Moe Nov 4, 2010

The case of Jammie Thomas-Rassert of Brainerd, Minn. has been dragging on for years. She’s the first person to take a lawsuit from the RIAA to a jury trial. And Minnesota juries have not been kind. In the latest ruling, she’s been charged $62,500 for each of 24 songs she downloaded illegally for a total of a million and a half dollars. She vows to appeal, just as she has every other time she’s lost in court.

Wikipedia has a list of the songs she downloaded. One of them’s by Richard Marx. $62,500 for a Richard Marx song! You could buy Richard Marx for less than that.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.