Teen accuses record companies of collusion

Teen accuses record companies of collusion (AP via Yahoo! News)

In the past 4-5 years the RIAA has filed about 18,000 lawsuits against individuals ranging from preteens to grandmothers, and everyone in between. A majority of these lawsuits were settled because it was cheaper than going through a long trial. The legal fees alone would cost more then the settlement fee just about every time. This resulted in almost everyone settling, because even if you won the trial, you still have to pay the legal fees.

Not everyone has simply settled out of court though. A few have decided to fight back against the charges laid against them. The teen from this article, Robert Santangelo, witnessed his own mother fight charges against her almost 2 years ago. Not long after Mrs. Santangelo took her case public and received support from many Internet sources, the RIAA dropped the charges. This further supports the idea that the RIAA doesn't really care if any of these people actually illegally downloaded music.

Mrs. Santangelo's son Robert took it a step further when he not only fought his charges but accused the record companies of collusion, defrauding the courts, and extortion. All of the current 'big five' record companies have their lawsuits coordinated by the RIAA. Some say, including Robert, that the 'big five' act as a single unit. You could go as far as saying these five have a monopoly over the record industry. Another issue brought up was the one brought up earlier that the record industries were legally extorting people through the courts. Robert also issued a few personal counterclaims, such as damaging his reputation and costing him legal fees. All of these are debatable and valid points, and should be interesting to see what happens.

I personally doubt that any of this will actually see a courtroom, since it is better for the RIAA and record industries reputation to simply make the issue disappear and continue suing others who don't fight back against them.