TRIAL DAY 1
Anecdotes and thoughts from today’s trial.
- Professor Nesson rearranges the courtroom. Professor Nesson did not like the standard court layout as “rhetorical space,” so with permission of the judge, the defendent table now faces the jurors from across the room, while the plaintiffs remain facing front.
- Debbie Rosenbaum granted acceptance. Harvard Law sought to remove Debbie, the only remaining law student still working with Professor Nesson, from the case. Professor Nesson immediately sought clarification this morning, and Judge Gertner permitted her to sit at the attorney table. To be clear, however, Debbie is *not* participating in any lawyer behavior as to not challenge Harvard Law’s school policy.
- Meeting our critics IRL. We met Ben Sheffner, the most vocal and public critic and blogger of our case, IRL today. He’s actually a pretty nice guy.
- Selecting a jury of peers. This goal took up nearly the entire day, save for lunch. Attorneys went through 25 individuals in order to select 16, from which 10 were ultimately chosen to serve. The final jury pool is made up of 5 men and 5 women.
In voir dire, attorneys can challenge a prospective juror “for cause” if that person says or otherwise expresses a bias against the case. This is done by asking jurors questions to gage their feelings or opinions. While the other side asked questions like: “Do you have an opinion on the music industry?” and “Have you ever downloaded music on a peer-to-peer network,” Professor Nesson asked questions such as:
- Do you play poker?
- What does the phrase “we the people” mean to you?
- What’s your passion?
- What does it mean to be a “peer”?
- Are you a fighter of justice?
Opening statements are tomorrow morning in Boston Federal Courthouse starting at 9am. The plaintiffs have no demonstrations set for their opening statements.
Professor Nesson’s visuals include:
- A block of styrofoam
- And the following illustration:
Necker Cube
:<)
guys I want you to know that I support you down here (Colombia), go Joel, set a good precedent!
wow, i’d really like to hear his explain to the jury why he’s using the necker cube. seems a bit abstract. but…cool.
“Have you ever downloaded music on a peer-to-peer network”
just seen a study saying that one third of the population has done that,so how is it fair to exclude such a minority? after all the jury should represent the people not only some people.
any chance we can get some details about the age of the members of the jury?
I wonder how many of the jurors actually answered the RIAA’s question - whether he or she has file shared - truthfully….
From the country of the Pirate Bay (that would be Sweden) I wish you all the best, I’m glad that you’re standing up the RIAA and I make thumbs up for Professor Nesson for contacting you. I came across your story at the Guardian website and shall be posting a link to that from my blog in hope of spreading the story.
Go for Jury Nullification - that’s the only play now.
I get this idea of To Kill A Mockingbird whilst reading this .. its somewhat relevant !
You’ve got my support as well! Professor Nesson sounds to be the perfect guy for this job!!
Good look - You’re in my thoughts, it’s about time this kind of behaviour was brought into the spotlight. I really enjoyed your article in the Guardian, hopefully it will encourage more people to really find out what a ‘fair’ justice system amounts to.
All the best!
Who’s got the film rights??????????? :0)
Good Luck, I hope you beat the RIAA. I even heared they send legal letters to campsites to prevent them from singing copyrighted songs by the campfire, so it’s time somebody stood up to those heartless bastards.
You must be very afraid right now, with such a powerful organization trying to destroy your life, but know that a lot of people are on your side. I’ll keep checking this site and your twitter.
unknown JFB source wrote: “Meeting our critics IRL. We met Ben Sheffner, the most vocal and public critic and blogger of our case, IRL today.”
And (at least since the spectrial in sweden where it was explained that internet is real too) I thought it is called AFK instead!
me wonders about you so called “digital natives” here. But hey, Harvard isn’t so much IRL too, is it?
Good luck dude
… I hope you beat the RIAA too, ass***** banging bout their copyright shit everytime .. will keep both my eyes on twitter man . and thanks
Hi and good luck from the UK.
Good luck Joel. In the interests of creativity I hope you win this case.I am sick of corporate watered down rubbish music made for money. The internet is improving the quality of music out there by allowing the real talent to come to the surface, rather than these corporate dinosaurs trying to manipulate what we buy. I believe that we are seeing the death throws of the corporate musical antuquities. Its sad that you have been caught up in these death throws but I believe real justice will prevail and you will come through this and win. There are millions of people who are behind you on this issue.
Sid Arthur
i’m reading this in ireland and downloading (illegally, haha) some new music as i do. and i will continue you do so. having read your story and seen how they are setting out to make an example of you, i fully support you and wish you the best.
i’ll be following this case with interest.
and by the way, your lawyer sounds cool. strange, but cool.
i for one will never pay for music again, and will encourage others to do the same
they can’t sue us all.
good luck, just saw the story about the trial on cbsnews. i heard that some jurors were disqualified for admitting to illegal downloading themselves. was everyone who masturbates also excused?
With ALL due respect (and not a lot of it at that), I suggest you take your little group of passionate, dedicated Harvard Law students and your professor back to the bookstacks and bone up on COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. And please get it right this time, because the lot of you should be disbarred given your current attitudes. Your client deserves you, and you deserve each other. You make me sick.
Haha, you are not gonna win.
You committed a crime, and the damages must be paid.
Joel brought this on himself. He knew the risks.
You really don’t care about the music industry or the artists who pour their SWEAT, TEARS, BLOOD, into their music. You really don’t care.
You think you get things in life for free. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Good luck to Joel paying this off in his lifetime.
YOU GUYS WILL NOT WIN!!! GIVE UP! THE ARTISTS WHO MAKE THE MUSIC DESERVE TO BE PAID! SO BUCKLE DOWN AND PAY OFF THAT DEBT IF YOU CAN….
plz someone suck my dik its big very big plz do it im horny plz plz
the previous 4 people seem to be on the same thread!
RE: I get this idea of To Kill A Mockingbird whilst reading this .. its somewhat relevant !
I thought they very same thing
The artists are not losing. The labels are. The money you spend on songs goes directly to these capitalist conglomerates.