[Kosh]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080117-exonerated-riaa-defendant-scores-double-victory-in-court.html


The judge ordered the suit by the RIAA to be dismissed and pay her legal fees. On top of that, the judge also gave the go ahead for her malicious prosecution suit against them. Booya.



Makes me proud to be from Oregon.

[karajorma]

I believe there is a similar case where someone is suing RIAA using the racketeering charges usually used against organised crime.

[Nuke]

cool. its about time they take some damage for a change.

[blackhole]

The RIAA must die.

[Unknown Target]

The thing is, this doesn't matter to them. What will they lose? $100,000? $1 million? Chump change to a corporation this large. While we as a people applaud it, it does very little harm to a corporation that massive.

[Kosh]

The thing is, this doesn't matter to them. What will they lose? $100,000? $1 million? Chump change to a corporation this large. While we as a people applaud it, it does very little harm to a corporation that massive.

Maybe not, but what is more important is that it can be used as precedence in other file sharing cases and, more importantly, encourage others to take a stand. One bee sting may be annoying, but several thousand can kill you.

[Unknown Target]

Except it probably can't - I realize that it can be used as precedent, but even several thousand people all counter-suing the RIAA won't make much of a difference - it's that big.

[NGTM-1R]

Except it probably can't - I realize that it can be used as precedent, but even several thousand people all counter-suing the RIAA won't make much of a difference - it's that big.

Perhaps.

But the RIAA is scared of this, by all reports, so perhaps it's not as simple as you make it sound. Particularly as people are abandoning the sinking ship already.

[Nuke]

we dont need to topple em as much as id like to see that. we just need them to change their business model is all

[karajorma]

It's a class action suit. Lose one of those and we're talking about millions depending on what the grounds are.

[WMCoolmon]

Except it probably can't - I realize that it can be used as precedent, but even several thousand people all counter-suing the RIAA won't make much of a difference - it's that big.

Perhaps.

But the RIAA is scared of this, by all reports, so perhaps it's not as simple as you make it sound. Particularly as people are abandoning the sinking ship already.

Based on this transcript which is further supported by this article:

What are the terms of the settlements? Are violaters paying fines? What are the typical terms of a settlement?

Up until now, the average settlement has been about $3000 -- but we take each case on an individual basis. This is not a revenue-generating exercise. We're trying to send a message that the activity is illegal and can have consequences.

I also found some sites saying up to $4000 so we'll use that.

$1,000,000/$4,000 = 250 settlements to make up for each million lost due to a class action lawsuit.

But that's not counting the cost of attorneys, IT personnel, clerks, offices, bandwidth, and so on that are all required for the RIAA to find and sue those people and produce enough evidence for it to be successful.

So the RIAA is going to be out a lot of money if that class action lawsuit goes through, and there will also be more precedent for people to fight the lawsuit on. At the very least, people won't be as likely to cave if there is one well-publicized lawsuit that succeeds against the RIAA, which will force the RIAA to spend more $$$ to deal with them.

It will also hurt their publicity, obviously.

It may be small but these are people who are trying to hold on to CDs that cost $20.