Ray Beckerman has posted disappointing news for those hopefully following the Patricia Santangelo defense of her file-sharing lawsuit. You'll remember that Ms. Santangelo was the first of the RIAA's litigation targets to defend herself in court rather than submit to the pressure of the RIAA's Settlement Office. Shortly after her case was made public, Ray Beckerman's Recording Idustry vs. The People blog was launched to follow her case and other similar ones. Now, it appears that future cases will be discouraged by Judge Colleen McMahon's recent ruling. McMahon was startrlingly encouraging to Santangelo at early hearings, but has ruled against summarily dismissing the case. This means that Patricia Santangelo carry the expensive process through to trial.

Beckerman: "We are very disappointed in the Court's ruling. The meaning of it, if other judges follow it, is that no one will be able to get the RIAA's baseless lawsuits dismissed without going all through all the expense and anguish of pretrial discovery, and either a summary judgment motion or a trial. [...] From this point on I will have to advise any litigants who are sued in Judge McMahon's Part, that they have no way of defending themselves without spending thousands, probably tens of thousands, of dollars."