The US Department of Justice has filed papers in convicted downloader Jammie Thomas's appeal against the $222,000 damages award against the Minnesota mother found liable for online piracy of 24 songs owned by Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and five other recording companies.

The US Department of Justice has filed papers in convicted downloader Jammie Thomas's appeal against the $222,000 damages award against the Minnesota mother found liable for online piracy of 24 songs owned by Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group and five other recording companies.

The Justice Department may file papers in any case when a party questions the constitutionality of a federal law. The jury in the case based its award on $9,250 per song instead of the maximum $150,000 per song allowed under the Copyright Act. The Justice Department said the damages must be used to send a message to potential copyright infringers adding "In establishing that range, Congress also took into account the need to deter the millions of users of new media from infringing copyrights in an environment where many violators believe they will go unnoticed." The case was the first against an individual to go before a jury since the Recording Industry Association of America began suing people for swapping music files. The group, which claims piracy has cost music companies billions of dollars in lost sales, has sued approximately 26,000 people over the past four years.