Copyright Law

Final Charge Conference in Capitol v. Thomas-Rasset

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

The final charge conferece was relatively uneventful, simply wrapping up matteres for the jury instructions and special verdict form. The only substantial objection different from the previous conference this morning was that plaintiffs asked for some changes in the language of the instruction brought about by yesterdays blow up over Dr. Jacobson's new testimony about an external hard drive.

The agreed upon instruction was:

You heard testimony from Plaintiffs' expert, Dr. Jacobson, that there was
evidence of an external hard drive connected to the computer that he examined.
You are instructed that there is no basis for the testimony regarding the
external hard drive and that you should disregard this testimony and all
evidence referred to in connection with the testimony about the external hard
drive.

Plaintiffs asked based on Thomas-Rasset today breifly stating, before the testimony being stricken that plaintiffs offered a witness who provided false testimony. The proposed addition was to make it clear that this testimony was not to be used by the jury and (paraphrasing) that there is no basis for the allegation that a witness offered false testimony. Defendants objected to this change, and the statement as originally agreed upon will be read to the jury.

Some minor changes were proposed and agreed upon by both parties as to the special verdict form, which will be finalized soon and be available along with the final jury instructions later today or tonight on ECF to both counsel and the public.

The court will meet with counsel briefly tomorrow morning at 8:30am. Closing arguments will begin with the defense at 9am and be followed by the plaintiff, with no rebuttal. Both parties thought their testimony would be about one half hour, possibly a bit longer. Both parties were granted a limit of one hour for closing. Judge Davis would like to have the jury charged with instructions before the lunch break.

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on June 17, 2009 (boomark / email).