The scene at RIAA headquarters this week must have been fascinating. The group yesterday announced that it has finished sending out a new batch of 503 "pre-litigation letters" to 58 different universities around the US, generously offering to let students settle copyright infringement claims "at a discounted rate" before those claims go to trial. The letters blanketed the country, going everywhere from the University of Hawaii to Swarthmore, from Boston College to Tulane, from Emory to Chico State. And then the RIAA learned that its aggressive litigation tactics have placed it on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit.

Single mom Tanya Andersen, a defendant in a previous lawsuit brought by the RIAA, was one of the first to have her case dismissed with prejudice (it cannot be refiled at a later date). Throughout the court battle, she maintained her total innocence, a claim given even more plausibility by the fact that she was charged with downloading numerous gangsta rap tracks.

After the case was dismissed, Andersen then sued the RIAA for malicious prosecution, and her attorney filed court documents in an Oregon federal court on Wednesday that seek to elevate the case to class action status.

The development, first reported by p2pnet, hopes to make a class out of those "who were sued or were threatened with sued by Defendants for file-sharing, downloading or other similar activities, who have not actually engaged in actual copyright infringement." In other words, a class of the innocent. In the complaint, Andersen alleges that the RIAA "has engaged in a coordinated enterprise to pursue a scheme of threatening and intimidating litigation in an attempt to maintain its music distribution monopoly."

Andersen is also going after the RIAA's investigative arm, SafeNet, formerly known as MediaSentry. This group allegedly "conducts illegal, flawed and negligent investigations for the RIAA and its controlled member companies" and has also been featured in past complaints.

Some of Andersen's claims against the RIAA have been tried by other defendants who chose to fight back, but this is the first time that a judge has been asked to consolidate such lawsuits into a class action.

Proving many of these charges will be difficult. Andersen alleges that the RIAA has violated the RICO racketeering act, but we have previously discussed why this will be hard to prove. The charge of malicious prosecution could be a bit easier, though Andersen (and other defendants, if the class is certified) will have to show a pattern of willful behavior by the RIAA, something that could be very difficult without having an insider from the organization "flip."

Should the case eventually be certified as a class action, it would bring a whole new kind of negative attention to the RIAA's legal campaign. The fact that the class specifically includes only those who have not committed copyright infringement will certainly go a long way toward making this look like a David v. Goliath redux. Whether deserved or not, these sort of cases are giving the RIAA a reputation for suing innocent people, a perception that a class action suit would only heighten. Expect a vigorous defense from the association.