Arguments underway in music downloading trial

The recording industry is back in a federal courtroom today, trying to prove its allegation that a Minnesota woman engaged in illegal sharing of copyrighted music on the Internet.

Attorney Tim Reynolds told a federal jury in Minneapolis Monday they'll prove that Jammie Thomas-Rasset of Brainerd illegally shared 24 songs on the Kazaa network.

While the industry is only trying to prove the downloading of a few songs, Reynolds alleges Thomas-Rasset made 1,700 songs available on Kazaa.

He says illegal downloading is costing the music industry billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

Defense attorney Kiwi Camara countered that the record companies can't prove that Thomas-Rasset illegally shared any songs.

This is second trial for Thomas-Rasset. She lost her first trial in 2007, when a jury in Duluth awarded the record companies $222,000.

But U.S. District Judge Michael Davis later concluded he made a mistake in his jury instructions and ordered the retrial.

This time, Judge Davis will tell jurors the record companies need to prove that someone actually downloaded the music Thomas-Rasset allegedly made available over the Internet.

Last time, he told the jury the plaintiffs didn't have to prove anyone downloaded the copyright-protected songs.

The companies suing are subsidiaries of four major recording companies.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)