AfterDawn: News

RIAA lawsuit target prevails in court

Last month, we reported that Judge Colleen McMahon blocked the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) from dismissing a case against Patricia Santangelo without prejudice. The judge found that the case must be dismissed with prejudice or proceed to trial allowing Santangelo to clear her name after being accused of copyright infringement and illegal file sharing by the trade group.

A stipulation of discontinuance with prejudice was entered yesterday by both the plaintiffs and defendants, which now leaves Santangelo eligible to file a motion to recover her attorneys' fees. Of course, the RIAA will oppose the awarding of the fees. This particular case has been ongoing since 2005, when Santangelo claimed no knowledge of such infringement happening in her home.



The RIAA subsequently targeted her children, who were aged 15 and 11 at the time. The RIAA would prefer to walk away from any case that it cannot win quietly than ever see a defendant exonerated of the alleged crime.

Source:
Ars Technica

Written by: James Delahunty @ 11 Apr 2007 5:23

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• 6 comments

• AlBundy

  I would to see this woman just "kill" the RIAA. Long live the "queen".
  
  The Shoe Man

  11.4.2007 05:48 #1

• spydah

  This is a great article we need plenty more of these.

  11.4.2007 12:36 #2

• handsom

  It would seem that across the US, judges are becoming perturbed with the fact that the RIAA effortlessly files these suits and then tries to act like nothing happened when they're wrong, irrelevent, or otherwise; they tie up the courts with these cases without proper research on their targets. I don't think the courts would mind so much if the RIAA took more time in gathering information on their targets before slapping suits against people. As it is, I think the courts are finally beginning to perceive this as reckless abuse of legal power, and it would appear that the court system has finally had it.
  
  If this trend continues, the RIAA may be facing it's first real opposition.

  11.4.2007 13:19 #3

• tabletpc

  RIAA
  
  R - real
  I - idiot
  A - american
  A -#$%^%$^%

  11.4.2007 22:55 #4

• Blackjax

  Oh I'm just waiting and drooling for the article where this woman absolutely hammers the RIAA. Wouldn't it be fantastic to see her get a nice big pile o'money. Say $750 for everytime she had to worry about what these morons were doing to her!

  12.4.2007 02:46 #5

• Steve83

  She needs to make some baseless criminal & civil allegations, and then claim outrageous financial damages. Then let the RIAA spend a few million DISproving their own guilt.

  13.4.2007 14:53 #6