It took a US jury just five hours to decide that Jammie Thomas-Rasset was guilty of piracy and liable for $US1.92 million in damages for downloading 24 songs from Kazaa.

The decision is a major win for the six record comanies involved, namely: Capitol Records, Sony BMG Music, Arista Records, Interscope Records, Warner Bros. Records and UMG Recordings; they each pick up $80,000 per song.

The verdict is certainly unexpected, as a judge described the previous decision to order the single mother to pay $US220,000 as “wholly disproportionate” and “oppressive.”

On a brighter note, while a somewhat annoying single mother is being struck with a life-crushing legal bill, Axl Rose will still be able to afford to push grand pianos out of his window, so it is kind of a lose-win situation.

[The Age]