Is Suing for Copyright Infringement Good Business?

I’ve often wondered about this, and now there’s a discussion going at TechDirt. I suspect the commenter who points out that suing your customers is generally a bad decision, referencing the RIAA.

I think that it’s very likely that one will make money via information delivery much more than by simple generation, and if artists, writers, and other producers are to make money, they’re going to have to look at how to do it that way.

I thought about this a couple of years back when the first of a number of articles I’ve written for my web site, and then for my blog, got copied elsewhere rather than just linked. In the end I decided that it was better not to even complain, because each such incident publicizes my name and my writing.