RIAA Drops File-Sharing Suit Against Elderly Boston Woman

Published January 13, 2015

The recording industry has withdrawn a lawsuit accusing a 66-year-old woman, who says she didn't even have file-sharing software, of illegally sharing hundreds of songs including rap.

The lawsuit against sculptor Sara Seabury Ward was among 261 lawsuits filed this month by the Recording Industry Association of America (search) as part of a fight against Internet file-trading.

It accused her of illegally sharing more than 2,000 songs through the file-sharing service Kazaa (search), including rapper Trick Daddy's "I'm a Thug."

The industry threatened to hold her liable for up to $150,000 for each song.

But Ward's lawyer, Jeffrey Beeler, wrote in a letter to industry representatives that Ward was a "computer neophyte" who never even installed file-sharing software on her computer, The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

In fact, Ward uses a Macintosh computer (search) at home, and Kazaa runs only on Windows-based computer programs, Beeler noted.

The case, filed in federal court in Boston, was dropped Friday.

However, RIAA lawyer Colin Zick added that "we will continue our review of the issues you raised and we reserve the right to refile the complaint against Mrs. Ward if and when circumstances warrant."

Neither Zick nor Ward immediately returned calls seeking comment Wednesday morning.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/story/riaa-drops-file-sharing-suit-against-elderly-boston-woman