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Nesson Tries the 'Sins of a Generation' Defense

By Robert J. Ambrogi

Observers who attended yesterday's start of the music-downloading trial of Joel Tenenbaum seemed to be scratching their heads in bewilderment over the defense. Admittedly, Tenenbaum's defense lawyer, Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson, has his hands somewhat tied, given that Tenenbaum admitted in his deposition to downloading the songs and given the 11th-hour ruling by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner that Tenenbaum could not use a fair use defense. So Nesson's defense appears to be that Tenenbaum should not be held accountable for the sins of his generation. "Everyone could download for free," he said in his opening statement. "And millions and millions did. Joel was one of those millions. In this way he's like every other kid. There's nothing that distinctive about Joel." That quote from Nesson's opening statement came from a report on Ars Technica written by copyright lawyer Ben Sheffner, author of the blog Copyrights & Campaigns, who is covering the trial. He describes Nesson's opening as telling the story "of a digital generation that embraced peer-to-peer networks when they arrived on the scene and shouldn't be punished for sticking with them even as iTunes and numerous other legal, paid alternatives became available." In contrast, music industry lawyer...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on July 29, 2009 (boomark / email).