

A federal appeals court on Thursday barred the webcasting of a live courtroom proceedings of a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing trial.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote that the Massachusetts trial judge that authorized the webcast was "palpably incorrect" in concluding that streaming coverage of the case was allowed in that state.

It would have been the first time an RIAA filesharing hearing would have been broadcast. The RIAA, which has sued 30,000 individuals, objected to the webcast, sayinig it could be "readily subject to editing and manipulation."

Cara Duckworth, an RIAA spokeswoman, said the record labels were "pleased with the first circuit's decision in this matter and now look forward to focusing on the underlying copyright infringement claims in this case."

The case concerns Boston University student Joel Tenenbaum whose attorney, Harvard University professor Charles Nesson, is challenging the peer-to-peer file sharing lawsuit and the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, which allows penalties of up to $150,000 per infringed music track.

"We are disappointed by the first circuit’s decision and maintain that Joel is being denied a constitutional right to a public trial in the age of the internet," Tenenbaum's defense team wrote on its web site, Joel Fights Back.

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