A woman whose children allegedly downloaded and distributed more than 1,000 songs agreed to pay $7,000 in installments to the recording industry.
Patricia Santangelo (pictured below), a mother of five, made headlines when Elektra sued her in 2005. The 46 year-old woman from Wappingers Falls, N.Y said at the time that she didn't even know how to download music, and a federal judge called her an "Internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo," the Associated Press reports.
Initially, Santangelo resisted and became an icon for fighting the Recording Industry Association of America. Readers of p2pnet.net donated $15,000 to the legal battle. The recording industry eventually dropped the suit and instead sued two of Santangelo's children, whose alleged list of downoads included "MmmBop" by Hanson and "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.
Under the settlement, the Santangelos paid $3,500 on April 20 and will pay the rest in $533.33 installments until October.
Interestingly, RIAA spokeswoman Cara Duckworth wouldn't tell the AP how much money the industry spent on the lawsuit. “We don't break out costs per case, and it's not a question of it being 'worth it' or a 'victory,'" she said. Duckworth added that the lawsuit succeeded in demonstrating the consequences of illegal file sharing.
Duckworth's comments point out how the industry still relishes that concept of making an example out of individuals, even as the RIAA has said that it won't launch any new lawsuits. That still leaves plenty of Jane Doe cases already in motion. This one took four years from the initial filing to reach a conclusion, which shows that we'll be seeing similar cases play out for years to come.
