RIAA found liable for defendant's costs in file-sharing case

Eb Reinbergs

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In Capitol Record v Debbie Foster a single mother in Oklahoma whose child had apparently engaged in file sharing has not only defeated a lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) but has now been awarded the legal costs she expended in defending the suit.

Following the file-sharing phenomena in the early 2000s, the RIAA launched a number of lawsuits against internet users that it considered to be violating its members’ copyright in musical works (see RIAA wages war on peer-to-peer file swappers and RIAA pushes ahead with more P2P lawsuits despite Supreme Court ruling). File-sharing computers were identified and suits were launched against customers of internet service providers whose names were associated with accounts that were engaging in file sharing.

In the case at hand the RIAA filed suit against Foster. When she responded that she had no knowledge of any file-sharing software, the RIAA amended the complaint to include Foster’s daughter Amanda, but kept her on the complaint as co-defendant.

Finding that the Foster’s only option was to fight or accept a settlement for a wrong she did not commit, the court found the RIAA liable for Foster’s legal fees. Judge Lee stated:

"The Copyright Act does not expressly render anyone liable for infringement committed by another. Rather, the doctrine of secondary liability emerged from common law principles […] Under those common law principles, one infringes a copyright contributorily by intentionally inducing or encouraging a direct infringement."

The primary basis for the court’s reasoning was that Foster was completely internet illiterate and did not consent to, or even know about her child’s conduct. In the absence of such a finding, the court held that the defendant could not be held liable for secondary copyright infringement.