• August 28, 2008

A federal district court judge has issued a key ruling for the record industry in a well-publicized lawsuit against Arizona resident Jeffrey Howell.

Judge Neil Wake ruled that Howell deliberately destroyed evidence in the case by purging his hard drive of Kazaa. The decision appears to signal that Wake will end the case in the record industry's favor.

The case drew much attention earlier this year when Wake denied the record industry's ruling for summary judgment. He held that the Recording Industry Association of America couldn't prove copyright infringement simply by showing that Howell made files available for download. Rather, he ruled that the RIAA needed to show proof that some of the files had been downloaded. But that ruling still left a portion of the case alive because the record industry's investigator, MediaSentry, allegedly downloaded 12 tracks from Howell's Kazaa folder.--Wendy Davis