All-Star Witness List In Lawsuit Over Constitutionality Of RIAA Lawsuits

from the that's-quite-a-witness-list dept

Last month we had mentioned how Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson was taking on the RIAA's strategy of suing music uploaders by claiming that the laws the RIAA was relying on were unconstitutional. That case ("the Tenenbaum case") started moving forward this week, and the Associated Press had a story at the beginning of the week, which about fifty people submitted (with some angrily wondering why we hadn't written about it). We didn't write about it because it was basically the same story we had covered in October.

However, there is some interesting news in the case, as Ray Beckerman has posted the proposed witness list put forth by Tenenbaum's legal team and it is quite the star-studded list. It's becoming quite clear (if it wasn't already) that this is a case where a bunch of different folks in the "copyfighting" realm are converging to confront the RIAA's legal strategy. The list includes:

• John Perry Barlow (former songwriter for The Grateful Dead, founder of the EFF, and well known digital thinker)
• Prof. Johan Pouwelse (technical and scientific director of European research project P2P-Next)
• Prof. Lawrence Lessig (needs no introduction, I imagine, for folks around here)
• Matthew Oppenheim (who has a somewhat murky relationship with the RIAA, at times representing the RIAA, and at other times insisting he does not represent the RIAA)
• Prof. Terry Fisher (a director of Harvard's Berkman Center and author of Promises to Keep, an early book looking at how the internet was changing the entertainment industry, and how it's business models need to change)
• Prof. Wendy Seltzer (well known copyfighter, law professor, former staff attorney at the EFF and founder of the Chilling Effects site)
• Prof. John Palfrey (Harvard law professor, co-director of the Berkman Center, author of Born Digital)
• Prof. Jonathan Zittrain (Harvard and Oxford law professor, co-director of the Berkman Center, author of The Future of the Internet)
• Andrew Grant (former antipiracy specialist at DRM company Macrovision)

That is quite the all-star list. This case is going to be a fun one to watch.

Filed Under: andrew grant, charles nesson, john palfrey, john pouwelse, jonathan zittrain, larry lessig, matthew oppenheim, tenenbaum, terry fisher, wendy seltzer
Companies: riaa