MUMBAI: Vivendi SA?‹?“s Universal Music Group and other record companies won the first trial over music downloading in their case against a Minnesota mother of two accused of sharing songs over the Internet without permission. A jury in Duluth, Minnesota, said today that Jammie Thomas, a 30-year-old environmental coordinator with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, improperly distributed songs over the Internet. She was told to pay $9,250 for each of 24 songs downloaded, for a total of $222,000 says a report.

The copyright-infringement case was the first against an individual to go before a jury since members of the Recording Industry Association of America began filing lawsuits four years ago against people they claimed were improperly swapping music files. Thomas denied downloading the songs and said the record companies couldn?‹?“t prove that she did. Thomas?‹?“s lawyer, Brian Toder, of the Minneapolis law firm Chestnut & Cambronne, had no comment on the verdict. In closing arguments, Toder said Thomas, who lives in Brainerd, Minnesota, copied some songs onto her computer from CDs she owned, and she didn?‹?“t know how unauthorized copies may have gotten there. The record companies claimed that Thomas downloaded 1,702 songs to her computer from the music site Kazaa. The trial centered on just 24 of those songs, including ``Iris?‹?“?‹?“ by the Goo Goo Dolls and ``Welcome to the Jungle?‹?“?‹?“ by Guns ?‹?“n Roses. A computer security firm hired by the industry detected the songs remotely in a shared folder on Thomas?‹?“ hard drive; a folder Thomas said wasn?‹?“t hers. Music industry lawyer Richard Gabriel said the jurors, speaking to him after the verdict was announced, told him that Thomas was tech-savvy enough to know what was happening on her computer. More than 26,000 lawsuits have been filed by record companies, and about 8,000 have been settled, usually with the individual paying about $3,000. Some cases have been dismissed because the individuals were dead, children or people who didn?‹?“t own computers, or because of other hardship reasons. While the recording industry has been criticized for suing its own customers, music companies say the suits have been effective in raising public awareness and cutting down on illegal downloading. The RIAA, citing its own polling, said the percentage of people who said downloading for free is illegal jumped to 73 percent in 2007 from 37 percent in 2003. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimates that piracy costs labels $4.5 billion a year worldwide in lost sales.