Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a 35-year-old Minnesota woman, was left with no remedy but to pay a $222,000 fine stemming from a 2006 case about music she downloaded from a file-sharing service, when the Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal today.
Thomas-Rasset and Joel Tenenbaum were the only two defendants from a spate of cases brought by music industry groups in the mid-2000s who did not settle. Tenenbaum is facing a $675,000 fine.
Like Tenenbaum, Thomas-Rasset has said she cannot pay the fine.
The Copyright Act provides for penalties of up to $150,000 per violation.
The Recording Industry Association of America initially offered to settle the case for $5,000; it subsequently offered to settle for a $25,000 donation to a charity for musicians in need, according to the Washington Post.
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