A US court has dismissed a record industry lawsuit over p2p file sharing, a significant defeat for the industry which has had few setbacks among several thousand attempts to win ‘compensation’ from alleged file sharers.
A federal court in Oklahoma granted the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) permission to withdraw its case against a mother whose only connection to the alleged filesharing was that she was the person who paid for the Internet access.
The RIAA decided to withdraw when it was faced with the mother’s motion for leave to file a summary judgment motion dismissing the case against her and awarding her attorney’s fees. However its tactics failed when the court ruled that the defendant was entitled to attorney’s fees, regardless.
Steve Gordon, a New York-based entertainment attorney, told the Recording Industry vs The People blog that this ruling has significant implications.
This may stand as a precendent for future casses forcing the riaa to pass yet another law to do their evil bidding.