Trial was delayed over inability to argue case in a RI court even though is a Federal case.
The Harvard legal team defending 24yo Joel Tenenbaum from RIAA accusations that he made 7 songs available for downloading in a KaZaA shared folder will appear in Rhode Island Federal Court tomorrow to argue their case.
Tenenbaum, a graduate student at Boston University, was accused of downloading seven songs back in 2004 and is being sued for $1,050,000 – $150,000 per song!
The team originally traveled down in mid-December, but the hearing was rescheduled for Jan 6 due to the fact that Harvard Professor Charles Nesson, Tenenbaum’s lead counsel, was not admitted to legally argue in a RI court. Since then, the team has filed a pro hac vice motion for Nesson, but the group has not heard if it has been granted. In order to ensure action, Nesson has also secured a Rhode Island lawyer.
“This just further underscores how deeply unfair it is to pit the powerful Goliath RIAA legal infrastructure against the small David, or Joel, defendants,” said Nesson back in December when the hearing was originally scheduled.
The hearing is on the RIAA’s motion to compel a response to a subpoena requiring Joel’s parents, Arthur and Judie Tenenbaum, to have their home PC inspected for evidence of copyright infringement. The parents have noted that the PC in question is neither the one on which the alleged illegal downloading took place nor did they even own it while Joel was living with them.
Professor Nesson has produced e-mails showing similar nonsensical demands by the RIAA legal team, one of which asked "…whether Mr. or Mrs. Tenenbaum have any homemade music CDs in their possession, custody or control (regardless of whether such CDs are “in the house”)."
The hearing is scheduled for 2:00 PM PST tomorrow at the Federal Building and Courthouse, One Exchange Terrace, Providence, RI 02903 in Courtroom A, before Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond.
No word yet on the Professor’s Nesson’s petition to broadcast the trial on the Internet.
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with a Harvard professor coming after them for this the RIAA will be sorry. They know they don’t have a leg to stand on. This is going to get costly for them. Especially if Joel can counter sue for wrongful intrusion of privacy or something. This will mark a very big black eye on the RIAA. This has been a histroically unprofitable for the RIAA at that. Looks likes things aren’t going well for them. Personally I don’t really care. I haven’t heard much good music come from the RIAA in years.