RIAA forced to cough up $50,000 legal fees

THE RIAA IS BEING made to cough up to cover some legal fees incurred by file-sharing defendent Debbie Foster, after the case against her was dismissed last summer.

Wired seems to think the case is definitely significant - until now, there has been no precedent existing for the RIAA compensating wrongfully-sued defendants for their legal costs.

Approved by Judge Lee R. West, whose order you can view here (PDF), the court has granted Foster compensation of "reasonable attorney fees," though the judge has denied her "attorneys' fees under 28 U.S.C. § 1927."

Wired managed to get a word in with Foster's attorney, Marilyn Barringer Thomson, who apparently is "pleased with the outcome." It looks as if the label, Capitol Records, will end up owing Foster over $50,000, not a figure to be sniffed at. µ

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