Trial set to begin in Mass. music downloading case

BOSTON -- A jury is to begin hearing arguments in a music downloading lawsuit filed by the recording industry against a Boston University graduate student.

The industry accuses Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., of downloading songs and making music files available for distribution on the Kazaa file-sharing network.

Lawyers finished picking a jury Monday afternoon in federal court in Boston. Opening statements are expected Tuesday.

Tenenbaum's case is the second such case to go to trial.

Last month, a federal jury in Minneapolis ruled that a Minnesota woman must pay $1.92 million for willful infringement of the recording industry's copyrights by posting music on Kazaa.

The industry has threatened about 35,000 people with charges of copyright infringement over the past five years, typically offering to settle for $3,000 to $5,000.