RIAA's Legal Track Record in 2004

The Big Picture: Thanks to Marc Freedman for steering me in the direction of Barry Ritzholtz's most excellent blog, but I read this today and thought it was pretty newsworthy and enlightening for those of us following the P2P debate, because it is not reported on very much.  (Chris Null from MobilePCMAg also blogged the issue on Boing Boing a while back.)  Anyway, while the RIAA continues to sue thousands of individuals for copyright infringement (including grandmothers, 12 year olds and even the deceased) the organization has basically lost every lawsuit so far in 2004!! (ie. Grokster, Verizon, and all the civil cases it has yet to win - since most everyone has or will most likely settle out of court...) The point is that there should be more news reported on what happens after the suits are filed or are lost... and looking at the big picture, are the RIAA's lawsuits really working to curb piracy anyway?  Also, do the artists whose works were supposedly infringed upon ever see any money at the end of the day from all the settlements??