A Minnesota woman was found guilty of illegally sharing copyrighted songs she downloaded from the Internet, and was ordered to pay $222,000 in damages.

Jammie Thomas, 30, was sued by the RIAA (recording industry organization) and will have to pay the six record companies that sued her more than $9,000 for each of the 24 songs they noted in the case. The companies claims that Thomas violated their copyrights by sharing 1,702 songs online, all told.

This is the largest amount that will have been paid in a file sharing copyright infringement case brought y the RIAA.

Jammie Thomas, a single mother who works on an Indian reservation, denies that she shared music illegally. But the Kazaa account name used for the illegal downloads matches a name Thomas used on other online sites. And the Internet provider Jammie Thomas uses said that an IP address assigned to her is the same one that connected to Kazaa on the date in question.

A good article on Cnet.com analyzes four reasons why the RIAA won, including some crucial jury instructions that the RIAA suggested.