The Recording Industry Association of America’s case against Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum was postponed again Tuesday because of new developments involving streaming the trial live on the Internet.
A hearing scheduled for Tuesday was going to be broadcast live on the Internet. The Friday before, however, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit asked both sides to comment on a Judicial Council of the First Circuit order from 1996 that bans recording equipment in the courtroom, and U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner delayed the trial until late April when this issue may be resolved.
The 1996 order bans the ‘taking of photographs and radio and television coverage of proceedings in the United States district courts within the circuit,’ according to the Feb. 20 court order.
Gertner originally said she would allow Courtroom View Network to stream a key hearing in the suit against Tenenbaum on the Internet on Jan. 14. A week later, Gertner granted a month’s stay so the First Circuit could look over a petition from the RIAA asking to block the internet broadcast.
The RIAA originally filed a lawsuit against Tenenbaum in Aug. 2007 for allegedly illegally sharing seven songs in 2004. Tenenbaum, represented by Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, filed a countersuit against the RIAA claiming their prosecution methods are unconstitutional.
Although the case is stalled because of the broadcasting issue with a pretrial conference and two trial dates canceled, ‘both parties agree that other parts of the case should proceed,’ according to a Feb. 23 court order. The order allows both parties discovery periods to gather more evidence to support their claims.
School of Management business policy and law professor Kabrina Chang said there is no precedent for a court case concerning this issue, despite 35,000 lawsuits all over the country.
‘This is a new strategy for the recording companies,’ she said. ‘None have gone to trial because they get the defendants to settle because the fines are so potentially huge.’
Chang also said the many delays and suspensions the trial is witnessing are normal procedure for a case of this caliber.
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