Capitol Records has been ordered to pay the $70,000 legal bill of a woman it tried to sue for downloading music illegally, reports Variety.
The case began in 2004, which Capitol sued Deborah Foster for copyright violation, a suit that was later amended to include Foster's adult daughter Amanda.
It later received a positive default judgment against Amanda and tried to settle out of court with Deborah before dropping the case.
Now a US District Court has said Capitol must pay $70,000 to cover Foster's legal bills. The defendant originally submitted a claim to recover $114,000, but the court dropped that to just $68,685.23. Capitol says because Foster chose to fight the lawsuit it doesn't owe her any compensation, an argument the judge in the case dismissed as out of hand.
The RIAA called the ruling wrong-minded, citing that others seeking legal fee compensation after beating copyright violation suits have lost such claims.
