By: Marco A. Ayllon
Science and Technology News
July 30, 2009
The major recording labels in the US are again going after an individual for swapping songs through file-sharing networks such as Kazaa.
In the previous case, in Minnesota, a single mother of four was fined more than $2 million for copyright infringement.
Tenenbaum is accused of downloading and distributing songs from bands such as Green Day and Aerosmith. The case centres on 30 shared songs, though the recording companies say he distributed many more than that.
The court heard that Tenenbaum was "a kid who did what kids do and loved technology and loved music".
The industry has typically offered to settle cases for about $US5000, though it has said that it stopped filing such lawsuits last August and is instead working with internet service providers to fight the worst offenders. However, cases already filed are proceeding to trial.
Charles Nesson, a Harvard Law School professor representing Tenenbaum, said his client - a graduate student in physics - started downloading music as a teenager, taking advantage of file-sharing networks that make it possible for computer users to share digital files with a network of strangers.
"He was a kid who did what kids do and loved technology and loved music," Nesson said in opening statements.
Nesson said the recording companies enjoyed decades of success but were slow to adapt to the advancements of the internet.
"The internet was not Joel's fault," Nesson said. "The internet sweeps in like the way the automobile swept into the buggy industry."
But Tim Reynolds, one of the lawyers representing the recording industry, said song-swappers such as Tenenbaum took a significant toll on the recording industry's revenues and on back-up singers, sound engineers and other people who make a living in music.
Reynolds said Tenenbaum used a computer in his parents' house in Providence and then at Goucher College in Baltimore, where he was a student, to download and distribute digital files.
He was flagged in August 2004 by MediaSentry, a private investigation company that was used by the recording industry to identify illegal song distribution.
Reynolds said that Tenenbaum continued distributing songs even after he had been confronted about it and that the defendant blamed his sister, friends and a foster child who had lived at the house.
"This defendant knew what he was doing was wrong at each step of the way," Reynolds said.
Under federal law, the recording companies are entitled to $US750 to $US30,000 per infringement but the law allows the jury to raise that to as much as $150,000 per track if it finds the infringements were wilful.
In the Minnesota case, the jury ruled Jammie Thomas-Rasset, 32, wilfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs and awarded damages of $US80,000 per song.
Nesson urged the jury to "find the minimum number of infringements" by Tenenbaum, if any at all.
The recording companies involved in the case are subsidiaries of Universal Music, Warner Music and Sony.
There's no subterfuge with Joel Tenenbaum.
The graduate student accused of copyright violations admitted in court on Thursday that he shared files and knew others were downloading the music he made available on Kazaa, according to a Twitter post from blogger Ben Sheffner.
Sheffner, a copyright lawyer who is covering the story from the courtroom, wrote "(Music industry) attorney getting scores of admissions from Tenenbaum. Joel doesn't resist."
The four major music labels, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI and Sony Music filed the copyright suit against Tenenbaum and in previous statements he denied sharing, according to Sheffner.
By admitting guilt, it appears Tenenbaum is going to take his chances that his attorney, Prof. Charles Nesson can convince the jury that sharing unauthorized music files doesn't cause that much harm and ordering defendants to pay big damages isn't justified.
Tenenbaum, along with Jammie Thomas-Rasset, are the only people accused of illegal file sharing that have taken their cases before a jury. In June, Thomas was found liable of copyright infringement and ordered to pay nearly $2 million.
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