James Delahunty
8 Jul 2007 18:47
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has demanded that the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) pay for a single mom's two-year legal ordeal fighting a baseless file-sharing lawsuit. The group let its position known to a Washington state court in an amicus brief filed Thursday. In January 2005, Dawnell Leadbetter was accused of illegally downloading copyrighted music and the RIAA claims she owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Leadbetter contacted the RIAA to deny the baseless claims, and refused to pay any settlement monies. In response, the RIAA sued Leadbetter, and Leadbetter hired an attorney to fight the charges. After months of legal wrangling, the RIAA finally dropped the case in December of 2006. But in the meantime, Leadbetter had incurred significant attorney's fees.
"Ms. Leadbetter isn't the only innocent Internet user that has been ensnared by the RIAA's litigation dragnet. But she is one of the few who have fought back, resisting RIAA pressure to pay settlement monies for something she did not do," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "The RIAA's settlement offers are usually less that what it would cost to defend yourself, so it's a big commitment to hire a lawyer to clear your name. Reimbursing Ms. Leadbetter's attorney's fees could encourage other innocent lawsuit targets to stand up for themselves."
Source:
Press Release