EFF defended a target of a recording industry lawsuit filing a brief in a New York district court urging the judge to allow the man to fight back with counterclaims of his own.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has already moved to dismiss copyright infringement claims against Rolando Amurao. But Amurao alleges that the RIAA intended to harass him and that their case is meritless. He has countersued for a declaration of non-infringement and a finding of RIAA copyright misuse. In its amicus brief EFF argues that giving Amurao his day in court increases RIAA accountability in the industry's broad lawsuit campaign against file-sharing.

The RIAA has sued thousands of individuals for allegedly sharing music over the Internet since its campaign began in 2003. But sloppy investigative methods have left innocent people entangled in expensive and draining legal proceedings. When the RIAA threatens someone with a lawsuit it offers to settle the case for a carefully chosen sum that is smaller than the legal fees required to fight the accusations. Faced with this choice some innocent people settle simply because it's the most affordable option. However a few individuals like Amurao have decided to battle the RIAA in court. In one Oklahoma case EFF provided amicus support to an innocent target of a file-sharing lawsuit who is fighting to have the RIAA reimburse her attorneys' fees.

• Press Release: news/archives/2007_04.php#005195">Recording Industry Target Deserves Day in CourtApril 10 2007