Hearing in song-swapping suit postponed

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A federal judge has postponed a hearing over whether two Rhode Island parents must surrender their computer to investigators seeking proof that their son illegally shared songs online.

A Harvard Law School professor had been scheduled Monday to ask a judge to bar the music industry from forcing the parents of Joel
Tenenbaum to surrender their computers.

But Magistrate Judge Lincoln Almond postponed the hearing until Jan. 6 to make sure all lawyers in the case, including a couple from outside Rhode Island, were authorized to appear in court.

Tenenbaum is targeted in a Boston federal court lawsuit that's part of the music industry's campaign against people who share music online.