The recording industry's litigation campaign against individual file-sharers suffered a setback earlier this month when a federal judge ruled in Atlantic v. Brennan that the boilerplate complaint used by the recording industry in these cases would not support a default judgment.

Default judgments may be entered against defendants who never respond to a lawsuit, but only if the complaint lives up to certain minimum standards. In ruling that the recording industry's complaint fell short of this mark, the judge specifically rejected the recording industry's "making available" arguments, thereby endorsing the argument that EFF recently made in Atlantic v. Howell.

It remains to be seen whether the recording industry has the particularized evidence necessary to back up their boilerplate complaints. But this ruling suggests that courts are not prepared to simply award default judgments worth tens of thousands of dollars against individuals based on a piece of paper backed by no evidence.

For Ars Technica's summary of the legal standards involved in the ruling:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080225-riaa-fails-again-to-get-default-judgment-in-uncontested-case.html

For the judge's ruling on the RIAA's motion for default

judgment:

http://www.eff.org/files/atlantic_brennan_080213OrderDenyDefaultJudgment.pdf

For can women take viagra this complete post by EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/02/riaa-file-sharing-complaint-fails-support-default-judgment