Patricia Santangelo, a divorced mother of five children, is one of the thousands of victims of lawsuits by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) aimed at P2P filesharers. The record companies say her computer and internet account were used to illegally distribute copyrighted music through P2P networks. Many of the past lawsuit victims settled for sums ranging from $3,000 to $5,000. The RIAA's settlement centre wanted her to pay $7,500 to settle the case.
However, she has said that she would rather pay lawyers fees than give in to record company intimidation. Of the thousands of lawsuits, none of the cases have ever gone to trial. "I am still nervous about the whole thing," she said. "I just got so aggravated about how threatening they were." She accuses the settlement centre of bullying her, trying to get her to accept the settlement offer. "I didn't do anything wrong," she said. "Why should I pay them?"
The P2P software she is supposed to have infringed copyrights with is Kazaa. It is installed on her computer but she claims she had no knowledge of what it was before the lawsuit. She also says that she believes a friend of her children is responsible for the infringement she is being accused of. Many hope that one day someone will battle the RIAA suit in court. "If this particular woman is willing to go to trial, that's something new," said Jason Schultz, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "The threat is so great that most people don't even risk it."
RIAA spokesman Jonathon Lamy claims that the record companies have "ironclad evidence" Santangelo's home computer and Internet account were used to illegally download music. However, Santangelo's lawyer, Morlan Ty Rogers, is sceptical of the evidence the RIAA claims to possess. He said nobody has yet challenged the "boilerplate" language of the lawsuits and said the companies have not got enough evidence to bring the case to court.
"Many of these lawsuits have been brought against people who are simply the names on the Internet account," Rogers said. He believes that is not good enough to sustain a lawsuit. He said the companies are targeting unsuspecting parents and grandparents, some who have only just managed to switch from vinyl to compact disc. "It's really surprising no one has attacked the record companies' basis for the lawsuits," he said, "because the record companies' claims are actually very weak."
Rogers has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it fails to properly state a claim. The record companies responded by saying simply that they had a valid claim against the woman. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon will decide the issue. She told the record companies lawyers that the settlement centre was now no part of this case. "I would love to see a mom fighting one of these," she said.
Sources:
The Journal News
p2pnet
The P2P software she is supposed to have infringed copyrights with is Kazaa. It is installed on her computer but she claims she had no knowledge of what it was before the lawsuit. She also says that she believes a friend of her children is responsible for the infringement she is being accused of. Many hope that one day someone will battle the RIAA suit in court. "If this particular woman is willing to go to trial, that's something new," said Jason Schultz, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "The threat is so great that most people don't even risk it."
RIAA spokesman Jonathon Lamy claims that the record companies have "ironclad evidence" Santangelo's home computer and Internet account were used to illegally download music. However, Santangelo's lawyer, Morlan Ty Rogers, is sceptical of the evidence the RIAA claims to possess. He said nobody has yet challenged the "boilerplate" language of the lawsuits and said the companies have not got enough evidence to bring the case to court.
"Many of these lawsuits have been brought against people who are simply the names on the Internet account," Rogers said. He believes that is not good enough to sustain a lawsuit. He said the companies are targeting unsuspecting parents and grandparents, some who have only just managed to switch from vinyl to compact disc. "It's really surprising no one has attacked the record companies' basis for the lawsuits," he said, "because the record companies' claims are actually very weak."
Rogers has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it fails to properly state a claim. The record companies responded by saying simply that they had a valid claim against the woman. U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon will decide the issue. She told the record companies lawyers that the settlement centre was now no part of this case. "I would love to see a mom fighting one of these," she said.
Sources:
The Journal News
p2pnet
