[Infowarrior] - RIAA case dismissed w/prejudice

[Richard Forno]

Defendant prevails in another RIAA file-sharing case

By Eric Bangeman | Published: April 10, 2007 - 12:58PM CT


http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070410-defendant-prevails-in-another-
riaa-file-sharing-case.html

A federal judge has dismissed Elektra v. Santangelo with prejudice, leaving
the door open for defendant Patti Santangelo to recover attorneys' fees from
the RIAA. Last month, Judge Colleen McMahon denied the RIAA's motion to
dismiss the case without prejudice, ruling that the case should either be
dismissed with prejudice or proceed to trial so that Santangelo could have a
shot at being exonerated of the RIAA's accusations of file-sharing and
copyright infringement.

A stipulation of discontinuance with prejudice was entered yesterday by both
the plaintiffs and defendants, which means that Santangelo is the prevailing
party and therefore eligible to file a motion to recover attorneys' fees. It
is anticipated that the RIAA will strongly oppose any such award of fees, as
they have in Capitol v. Foster.

Patti Santangelo was targeted by the RIAA in 2005 as part of its crackdown
against suspected file-sharing. The divorced mother of five denied engaging
in file sharing herself or having any knowledge of its happening in her
house. The RIAA subsequently sued two of her children, Michelle and Robert,
who were 15 and 11 years old when the alleged infringement took place.

The dismissal strikes another blow against the music industry's doctrine of
secondary infringement. It's an argument that the record labels have
consistently made in their lawsuits: if a defendant has "a reason to know"
of any infringing activity, he or she should therefore be liable for any and
all infringement‹even if the defendant was not aware of it. So far, the
courts have not found the argument convincing, which could lead to still
more dismissals. Ruling in Capitol v. Foster, Judge Lee R. West called the
record labels' secondary infringement claims "untested and marginal."

This is a scenario the RIAA has been anxious to avoid. Although the record
industry has been eager to file lawsuits, it never wants to see the
defendants exonerated, even when it's a clear case of mistaken identity.
Instead, it would rather just quietly drop unwinnable cases and walk away,
leaving defendants to deal with the legal bills from defending against a
case that should never have been brought. For at least the second time, a
judge has prevented the RIAA from doing exactly that. If the trend
continues, the music industry's legal strategy could end up being far more
expensive than it anticipated.