Music Industry Backers Rip Cox’s ISP Copyright Liability Theory

Absolving Cox Communications Inc. of liability for refusing to cut off music pirates would hamstring rightsholder efforts to challenge mass infringement and undermine a key internet copyright law, content industries, law professors, and ex-legislators told the US Supreme Court.

Music publishers including Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Bros. Records Inc., and Universal Music Corp., aim to thwart Cox’s bid to escape a jury’s copyright infringement verdict. In a series of friend-of-the-court briefs filed Oct. 22, the industry’s backers argue Cox distorts contributory liability law through the lens of non-copyright precedents in a theory that would essentially nullify the 1998 Digital Millennium ...