Case: Copyrights/Contributory & Vicarious Liability (U.S.)

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded the decision of the Fourth Circuit affirming a jury’s finding of willful contributory infringement and reversing its vicarious liability verdict in Sony Music Entertainment and numerous other record companies and music publishers’ action against Cox Communications Inc. for infringement of 10,017 copyrighted works by users of Cox’s internet service who downloaded or distributed songs over the internet without permission. The court held that the provider of a service is contributorily liable for a user’s infringement only if it intended that the provided service be used for infringement, which can be shown only if ...