Trial Set To Begin In Mass. Music Downloading Case

Lawyers are to begin formally presenting their case in a music downloading lawsuit filed by the recording industry against a Boston University 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.

Jury selection and opening statements are expected in federal court on Monday.

Tennenbaum declined to settle his case for $12,000. His case is the second such case to go to trial.

Last month, a federal jury in Minneapolis ruled that a 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.