The download community has just received support from an unexpected ally as Canadian record company Nettwerk has made a statement by announcing a court case against the RIAA, the agency that represents the rights of American Musicians.

The reason for the media upheaval is the case of a fifteen-year-old girl who downloaded the track Sk8ter Boy by Avril Lavigne from the Internet, which resulted in a fine of nine thousand dollars. As a response, the girl and her family members sent a letter to MC Lars, who has a track called Download This Song, something the girl had apparently done as well, about her unawareness of the legality of her actions (and the presumably the disproportionate penalty). Ironically, MC Lars releases on Nettwerk, as does Avril Lavigne.

In fact, Nettwerk has offered to pay for the court case, with the label's front man Terry McBride claiming that "Lawsuits should be a shield, not a sword". He considers the RIAA's lawsuit to be detrimental rather than justified, as it wouldn't help the artists at all and was damaging to the image of the industry.

To add momentum to his statement, his firm has hired an experienced download attorney that has defended several illegal downloaders before, putting the American watchdog on the spot. As Mr. McBride claimed, lawyers, musicians and the recording industry have joined forces to prove the irrelevant and unjustified inquisition that emanates from the RIAA.

McBride continues: "Since 2003, the RIAA has repetitively misused American legislation to obtain settlements from normal people... . Thanks to the principles of Nettwerk we can work together to prevent the RIAA from its aggressive approach, which does not even represent the aims of the organization itself".