RIAA agrees $7k settlement in Santangelo file-sharing case

The RIAA's lawsuit against New Yorker Patricia Santangelo has become something of a cause celebre over the last four years. She was sued for file-sharing, but refused to settle on account of the fact that she was an “Internet-illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo” (in the words of a federal judge).The RIAA eventually dropped the suit and filed a separate one against two of her children, who it said were the infringers in the Santangelo household, downloading more than 1,000 tracks illegally. Now the two sides have come to a settlement where the family will pay $7,000.When asked how much it had cost to reach this point, RIAA spokesperson Cara Duckworth said: “We don't break out costs per case, and it's not a question of it being `worth it' or a `victory'.”