The RIAA has taken the position, in UMG v. Lindor, that MediaSentry's investigator is not an expert witness. Defendant disagreed with that contention. See USA v. Ganier, 468 F.3d 920, 925-926 (6th Cir. Nov. 15, 2006). The Magistrate, in his order, never ruled on that question one way or the other.

According to the RIAA, its only expert witness is a Dr. Doug Jacobson, an associate professor at Iowa State University, who is also the founder and a co-owner of Palisade Systems, a company that sells antipiracy software. The RIAA indicated, at oral argument on November 30, 2006, that MediaSentry will not testify to any opinions or conclusions about copyright infringement, but will only testify as to the steps it took, and that it will fall upon Dr. Jacobson to testify as to what MediaSentry's investigation actually meant.

Dr. Jacobson appears to be a dual-purpose expert, claiming to be qualified in both forensic and in internet issues. His deposition was taken in UMG v. Lindor on February 23, 2007, and the transcript and exhibits are available online, as is the transcript of the November 30th argument.


*Reprinted with permission of Ray Beckerman from http://info.riaalawsuits.us/howriaa.html updated March 31, 2007.