Intellectual Property Directions

The Boston Globe reported today that live internet coverage will be available to cover next week’s (2PM, Jan 22) initial hearing of the trial of a Boston University graduate student who is being sued by the RIAA for downloading music illegally. Reportedly the hearing will be streamed to the site of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. This is a trial run, so to speak, and further streaming of the trial is not assured.

The RIAA fought the ruling by Federal Judge Nancy Gertner, who, it is reported, noted that the RIAA’s position was at odds with its previously stated goal of prosecuting the few to deter the many; if you are trying to deter the wired generation from illegal downloading, isn’t streaming the trial the best way to reach your intended audience? (Of course, the RIAA realizes that losing the case in front of this audience would be a disaster in their campaign, which realization explains their concern).

This entry was posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 3:57 pm and is filed under copyrights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.