Judge Awards Defendant Costs - RIAA Lose

[GhostShip]

Yet another victory for the innocent folks sued by the RIAA extortion machine.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/005114.php

Good news today from the great state of Oklahoma. Debbie Foster, a single mom who was improperly sued by the RIAA back in 2004 for file sharing, has won back her attorneys' fees. The decision today is one of the first in the country to award attorneys fees to a defendant in an RIAA case over music sharing on the Internet.

Last year, Judge Lee R. West dismissed the case against her with prejudice after it became clear that Ms. Foster was simply the Internet access account holder in her home and had no knowledge or experience with file sharing software. EFF, Public Citizen, the ACLU, and the American Association of Law Libraries filed an amicus brief in the case, supporting Ms. Foster's motion for fees.

In his ruling, Judge West found that the RIAA had asserted an untested and marginal theory that veered toward "frivolous and unreasonable" by suing Foster for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement when the only evidence against her was her name on the household Internet account. Much like the judge in Elektra v. Santangelo, West expressed skepticism that "an Internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from a kazoo" could be held liable for children in her home downloading music illegally unless the parent had knowledge of the conduct or had giver her permission to do so. West also hinted that the RIAA might have pursued the secondary liability claims "to press Ms. Foster into settlement after they ceased to believe she was a direct or 'primary' infringer."

Finding that in the face of these claims, "her only alternative to litigating ... was to capitulate to a settlement for a violation she insists she did not commit" and that "such capitulation would not advance the aims of the Copyright Act," the Court awarded Ms. Foster her attorneys fees and costs.

We applaud Judge West for standing up to the RIAA and recognizing the importance of helping people like Debbie Foster push back against their overzealous litigation campaign.

This is a clear cut slap in the face for the Cartel, the judge was fully aware they had abused the legal processs to pursue someone they knew to be innocent to force a settlement out of court, and his judgement reflected this.

Fraud does not pay RIAA.

[SamSeeSam]

Hope this is not the last of such cases where the RIAA has to end up paying...

Cheers

[bughunter]

this futher proves RIAA  and there co-horts actually have no evidence that anyone is infriging on copywrite. so rely on bully boy tactics to get ppl to settle out of court..........
it is clear from this ruling and many others that should you be the victim of letigation from RIAA  then take them to court were they have to prove beyond resonable doubt that you actually broke the law. and as it  is now becomiong clear RIAA can prove nothing.............