RIAA Writes the Check for the Lost Legal Battle

After nearly a year since being ordered to pay compensation fees to a former infringer RIAA finally reaches into its pocket. The sum was set at $107,834 (and an additional $117.03 interest) and the recipient is Tanya Andersen, made famous by the perseverance with which she was targeted by the record-industry consortium. She was forced into spending two years building up a strong defence in court. Andersen found herself engaged in counter-lawsuits against the RIAA, and according to BusinessWeek, now wants to obtain class action status.

As Neoseeker puts it, an outcome such as this in a battle with the RIAA comes pretty rare due to the high costs that a lawsuit involves:

But how many people actually fight these cases? You'd probably be surprised at the numbers: the RIAA has pursued legal action towards about 40,000 people since 2003, and only about 5% of these people have fought back. Most opted to pay fines — usually ranging between $3000 and $4000 — while many others ignored the notices, hoping that they would go away, only to find out later that the court made default judgments against them. Unfortunately, most people do not have the assets available to challenge the RIAA's charges in the courtroom. Likewise, probably many people targeted by the RIAA do not realize that they would have a very good chance of winning these court cases, if they were brought to court.