Judge Orders RIAA to Pay Legal Fees to Falsely Accused Lawsuit Target – the Second Such Ruling

Please note that this post is from 2008. Evaluate with care and in light of later events.

Threat Level from Wired.com – Judge Orders RIAA to Pay Legal Fees to Falsely Accused Lawsuit Target — the Second Such Ruling :

A litigation target of the Recording Industry Association of America has been awarded attorney’s fees after the music business falsely sued an Oregon woman for copyright infringement.

It is the second time a federal judge has awarded defense expenses to an RIAA target who was falsely accused.

Andersen, in response to being sued, has filed a lawsuit against the RIAA seeking class-action status in Oregon federal court. The case, which is pending, seeks to represent RIAA defendants who say they have been falsely sued.

The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 for copyright infringement. Most have settled out of court.

Only one case has gone to trial, and the defendant lost when a jury ordered her to pay $222,000 for sharing 24 songs on Kazaa.

From my perspective—a measly law student—the RIAA has been abusing the legal system and the trust the system places in lawyers not to proceed with flaky evidence. Instead, they have taken advantage both of trust and the lack of technical expertise in the court—and provided “experts” who, in my opinion, are basically frauds.

Just because infringement happens—even on a massive scale—that doesn’t give a copyright owner the ability to attack both innocent and guilty alike with our legal system.