If the defendant defaults, plaintiffs apply for, and apparently usually obtain, a default judgement for $750 per Exhibit A song -- a number which is over 1000 times the 70-cent amount for which the license to the song could have been purchased. This measure of damages has been challenged. (See Damages below.)

Despite the disfavored nature of default judgments, the strong public policy against matters being decided on default, and the almost inevitability of a Court's vacating a default which has not been sitting there for an awful long time, the RIAA, consistent with its "scorched earth" policy, appears to have a practice of fighting strenuously over every default it gets. In Warner v. DeWitt, in Chicago, it procured a default judgment, and refused to stipulate to vacate the default. Defendant was forced to move to vacate, and the motion was granted.

In Atlantic v. Boggs, in Corpus Christi, Texas, it refused to waive defendant's default, and moved for a default judgment based on defendant's alleged "nonappearance". The Court, in denying the RIAA's motion, reminded the RIAA that the defendant had in fact appeared.

In Elektra v. Santangelo II, despite the fact that they had already entered into a discovery schedule with defendant's lawyer, they obtained a default judgment. A motion to vacate the default judgment will be made in April at an upcoming conference.


*Reprinted with permission of Ray Beckerman from http://info.riaalawsuits.us/howriaa.html updated March 31, 2007.