SongBoom Get Your Music On!

Today the RIAA/MAFIAA has lost its first significant battle in the ongoing saga of their abusive lawsuits in the USA against filesharers. In case you aren't familiar with the story, here's a summary: a woman was accused by the RIAA of copyright infringement in November 2004, and her daughter was added to the complaint in July 2005. According to the RIAA, the Internet account paid for by the mother was used for file sharing, with an unspecified number of songs downloaded.

The music group offered to settle the case for US$5,000, but the mother decided to take her chances in court. She requested that the RIAA provide specifics such as the dates of the alleged downloading and the files involved. The RIAA failed to provide the requested information and so she filed a motion for summary judgment. In turn, the RIAA decided to cut its losses and asked the court to withdraw its case. The court approved the RIAA's request, but named her the winner and awarded her attorneys fees over the RIAA's objections.

Lets just hope that this is the first of many, many more cases of people standing up to the RIAA/MAFIAA and not succumbing to their scare tactics. True to their noteworthy arrogance, the RIAA tried to get out of the legal fees by saying that the woman 'could have avoided [fees] altogether but chose not to do so', which means that they think she was not entitled to her legal fees because she could have simply paid them US$5,000 in the beginning and avoided the rest of the lawsuit.

Nice logic, guys.