The music industry won the latest round on Tuesday in its long-running legal battle against a woman accused of illegally downloading and sharing two dozen songs on the Kazaa peer-to-peer network.

The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota, reinstated a $222,000 jury verdict against Jammie Thomas-Rasset, rejecting arguments that the damages award was excessive and violated her due process rights under the US Constitution.

The decision is the latest to address the music industry's ability to use the Copyright Act to pursue individuals who illegally download music from the Internet. The law allows copyright owners to recover damages between $750 and $150,000 per infringed work.

Thomas-Rasset, from Brainerd, Minnesota, was one of 18,000 individuals sued by the Recording Industry Association of America between 2003 and 2008 in a legal assault meant to discourage people from illegally downloading songs from sites like Kazaa.

The industry organization accused her of illegally downloading more than 1,700 files. After failing to reach a settlement, the association sued Thomas-Rasset in 2006 over 24 songs on behalf of six major record labels, including Sony BMG Music Entertainment, UMG Recordings Inc and Arista Records.

The case has followed a circuitous path. Thomas-Rasset lost her first trial in 2007 and was ordered to pay $222,000, only to have the court throw out the verdict because of a faulty jury instruction.

Reuters