The Supreme Court has ruled against the music industry in a case against Cox Communications.
The case began in 2019, with major labels including Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Universal Music Group coming together and filed a lawsuit against Cox. The labels said that Cox was liable for its customers violating music copyrights by illegally downloading and distributing songs. The labels won the initial billion dollar lawsuit.
Following that ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said the billion dollars in damages weren’t justified in 2024, and a new trial would need to take place to decide on an appropriate amount.
Cox argued that it could not prevent piracy without cutting off internet access preemptively anytime it was alleged that a customer was using it for piracy. That, Cox said, would take away internet access for too many innocent users including “entire households, coffee shops, hospitals, universities” and others. The company said it handled infringement by issuing warnings, suspending service, and terminating service when necessary.
This week, the Supreme Court has unanimously decided that internet providers are not liable for their customers engaging in piracy.
“Under our precedents, a company is not liable as a copyright infringer for merely providing a service to the public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the opinion filed Wednesday. “Accordingly, we reverse.”
Justice Sotomayor filed a concurrence with Justice Jackson, noting that they agree with the decision, but only because the plaintiffs could not prove that Cox intended to help users with copyright infringement.
A representative for Cox Communications said, “The Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion is a decisive victory for the broadband industry and for the American people who depend on reliable internet service. This opinion affirms that Internet service providers are not copyright police and should not be held liable for the actions of their customers.”
Mitch Glazier, Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) chairman and CEO, also made a statement, saying, “We are disappointed in the Court’s decision vacating a jury’s determination that Cox Communications contributed to mass scale copyright infringement, based on overwhelming evidence that the company knowingly facilitated theft. To be effective, copyright law must protect creators and markets from harmful infringement and policymakers should look closely at the impact of this ruling. The Court’s decision is narrow, applying only to ‘contributory infringement’ cases involving defendants like Cox that do not themselves copy, host, distribute, or publish infringing material or control or induce such activity.”