Boston University graduate student Joel Tenenbaum’s debut on the World Wide Web’s live video stage was delayed Wednesday when a Boston court granted the Recording Industry Association of America a month’s stay in their court case against Tenenbaum.
A week after U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner ruled that Tenenbaum’s case could be streamed live on Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society’s website, the RIAA filed a motion to block the webcast.
Though the hearing was set to begin Thursday, the issues addressed are not an emergency and can be addressed at a ‘later date’ the court documents said.
‘Postponing the hearing will allow the First Circuit an opportunity to fully consider the petition before it,’ the documents stated.
The RIAA filed a $1 million lawsuit against Tenenbaum in August 2007 for illegally sharing seven songs in 2004. Berkman Center director Charles Nesson, a Harvard law professor, is representing Tenenbaum, along with a team of legal students on the case.
The RIAA objected to the internet broadcast because it ‘undermines basic principles of fairness,’ according to their complaint.
‘Recording and broadcasting this proceeding will prejudice Petitioners’ efforts to enforce their legal rights, and no appeal at a later date could correct that prejudice once done,’ the complaint stated.
The RIAA did not respond to messages left regarding Tuesday’s court decision.
Tenenbaum said he requested to use the cameras that were already installed in the courtroom to provide the picture and sound for streaming on the Internet.
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