By Humphrey Cheung
Beaverton (OR) – The epic legal battle between the major record labels and an Oregon single mother is almost at an end. Beaverton resident Tanya Andersen has been awarded $107,883 in legal fees from her three year-long fight against the RIAA. While the amount sounds impressive, it is approximately one-third of the $298,995 that Andersen had demanded.
Federal Magistrate John Acosta reviewed the fees request after the RIAA dropped their lawsuit of illegally downloading music against Andersen. You may remember that the RIAA initially sued Andersen back in 2005. The case was dismissed with prejudice in June 2007 and Andersen countersued afterwards. Both sides have been fighting over the legal costs since then.
The RIAA said the case was a simple copyright infringement case and argued that Andersen only deserved $31,000. They also claimed that she only required a single attorney, but Andersen showed up with as many as six lawyers at some hearings.
Judge Acosta awarded Andersen’s attorney Lory Lybeck an hourly rate of $325 per hour instead of $375 that Andersen sought (No Mortons Steakhouse for you!). Acosta also disagreed with Andersen's request of a fee multiplier of X 2 for the difficulty of mounting a unique and "high-risk" defense.
Both sides have until May 27 to object to the award and it’s a safe bet that Andersen and the RIAA aren’t happy. This could go on for several more months.
