RIAA Wins By Default

A U.S. federal judge recently ordered 20-year old Michelle Santangelo, the daughter of the well-known music-downloading defendant, Patricia Santangelo, to pay a default judgment of $30,750.00. The judgment followed Michelle Santangelo’s failure to formally respond to claims made by the U.S. recording industry that she had illegally downloaded 41 copyrighted songs. In 2005, five record companies unsuccessfully sued Patricia Santangelo, who argued that she had never downloaded music, and that file-sharing programs were to blame if any illegal downloading had occurred among her five children. The record companies eventually dropped their case against Patricia, but vowed to continue their legal crusade against Michelle Santangelo and Patricia’s 16 year-old son, Robert Santangelo. No default judgment has been filed against Robert. This case is one of the more than 18,000 piracy lawsuits that have been filed in U.S. federal courts, many of which have been settled against minors.

This entry first appeared in the January 25, 2007 edition of lawsof.com. For additional information, click here.