Victory for RIAA victim
p2pnet.net News:- Oklahoma mother Debbie Foster has proved once again that when the RIAA comes knocking, it pays to slam the door.
She didn’t cave in when Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG, the members of the Big 4 Organized Music cartel, set their RIAA on her and now the cartel’s US enforcement unit has been ordered to pay Foster’s attorney’s fees, a first for Big 4 victims.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), “acted in bad faith in bringing the lawsuit against Debbie Foster,” said her lawyer, Marilyn D. Barringer-Thomson, last year, going on:
First, prior to commencement of this action, plaintiffs knew that Debbie Foster did not engage in any infringing conduct and plaintiffs could not have been motivated to file this action to obtain an injunction against Debbie Foster.
Second, Debbie Foster informed plaintiffs very early on that she had no knowledge of any infringement and requested specific details of the alleged infringement … plaintiffs refused to dismiss her with prejudice insisting instead that they were entitled to recover sums from her. Plaintiffs were not motivated to file and maintain this lawsuit to recover any profits or any fair and reasonable multiple thereof.
Finally, the true motivation for the filing of the instant suit can be gleaned from the evidence in the District Court file. Thus rather than pursuing resolution of a fairly minor dispute in good faith, the record suggests that plaintiffs and their counsel filed and maintained this suit in an attempt to extract a significant payment from perceived ‘deep pocket’ defendant Debbie Foster (and in an attempt to garner publicity for plaintiffs and their lawyers).
Barringer-Thomson demanded the case against her client be dismissed, the RIAA abandoned its attempt to railroad her and because Foster was judged to be the “prevailing party” under the Copyright Act, she was also eligible for certain costs.
“The exact amount of the ‘reasonable’ fees to be awarded has not yet been determined,” says Ray Beckerman on Recording Industry vs The People, going on that .
Foster had asked for about $55,000 in her motion.
“The judge also held that (a) the RIAA will be permitted to engage in discovery on the attorneys fee issue, and (b) Ms. Foster can supplement her application (i.e. seek fees for the later work, including, presumably, time spent in discovery on the ‘reasonableness’ issue),” says Beckerman.
Judge Lee R. West ruled 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, says the EFF’s Jason Schultz in Deep Links.
With Public Citizen, the ACLU, and the American Association of Law Libraries, the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) filed an amicus brief supporting Foster’s motion for fees.
“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,” says Schultz.
“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 ‘[s]uch capitulation would not advance the aims of the Copyright Act,’ the Court awarded Ms. Foster her attorneys fees and costs.”
Also See:
acted in bad faith – RIAA owes Oklahoma mum, August 9, 2006
Recording Industry vs The People – Judge Grants Debbie Foster’s Attorneys Fees Motion in Capitol v. Foster, February 6, 2007
Deep Links – Big Win for Innocent RIAA Defendant, February 6, 2007
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