Joel Tenenbaum file-sharing trial doesn't disappoint

By Eriq Gardner

Pirate Bay may be sticking around for now, but Hollywood is having better luck on another antipiracy front.

The second ever P2P file-sharing case to go to trial is under way. You'll remember the Joel Tenenbaum case as the Harvard law school project run by professor Charles Nesson, who has done crazy things like crowd-sourcing a brief, getting on the Yale judge's nerves, and pushing to webcast the trial.

Unfortunately, Nesson wasn't successful on that last one because we would have loved to watch his entertaining opening statement, where he took scissors out and cut up plastic foam to make a point about, um, something about file-sharing.

The theatrics don't seem to be working, as one of his other attorneys in the case, Matthew Feinberg, blurted out in court yesterday, "We're admitting liability, your honor." Hmm. What do they teach at Harvard?

The case continues, although most legal observers are expecting a guilty verdict before the big fight over the amount of damages in the case. It's possible that by the end of August, there will be two cases — this and the Jammie Thomas-Rasset case — swirling up the appeals circuits.

With any luck, Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed in time to convince her Supreme Court colleagues to allow cameras so we can post Nesson trying to make a point about the constitutionality of excessive damages using a toy fire engine truck.