Motley Fool article: "RIAA's Day in Court Nearly Over"

Thanks to Jon Newton of p2pnet.net for bringing this to my attention. Interesting article published on investment web site Motley Fool:

RIAA's Day in Court Nearly Over
By Anders Bylund September 24, 2007

The music industry's lawsuit crusade against defenseless college students and housewives appears to have hit the skids lately. That might mean it's almost time for socially responsible investors to start looking at music publishers again, after their long industrywide hiatus from research lists.

Sympathy for the devil
Warner Music (NYSE: WMG), Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG, Universal Music, and EMI (OTC BB: EMIPY.PK), the main movers behind the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), may have expected easy victories when they began their much-maligned campaign to sue alleged illegal music downloaders. But instead of settling their cases for a few thousand dollars each, many defendants decided to fight back -- with great success.

Some lawsuits have proven ridiculous from the outset, targeting computer-illiterates and dead people, or accusing grandmothers of downloading gangsta rap. Others have been dismissed for a lack of evidence against the purported file-sharers. Nearly every standard weapon in the recording industry's legal arsenal has been proven ineffectual at best, and unconstitutional at worst.

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