The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) went into effect in 1998. The DMCA was enacted to provide copyright protection from online infringement, provide safe havens for online service providers from being sued for copyright infringement, and make it illegal to circumvent systems designed to protect copyrighted works. By many accounts, the law has been a success to both copyright holders and publishers.
In its first test with the high courts, the United States Supreme Court will decide a dispute between Cox Communications, who believes it should not be held liable under the DMCA for failing to terminate infringing subscribers who repeatedly pirated music, and a group of major music labels. This case could determine whether ISPs can be held liable for their subscribers’ copyright infringements if they know of the infringement and fail to take action or if they must themselves be promoting the infringement to be liable.
This case is Cox’s appeal of the lower court’s prior decision under the DMCA of willful contributory and vicarious infringement copyrighted works due to infringement by users of its internet service. Over fifty labels had sued Cox in 2018, saying Cox did too little to stop its users from illegally downloading pirated copies of their music through peer-to-peer (P2P) protocols and took no action re their copyright infringement notices. In 2019, a jury in federal court decided that Cox owed $1 billion in damages for violations by its internet service users but the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed part of the infringement verdict and remanded the case for a new trial on damages.
TAKEAWAY: This decision is one to watch for the potential clarification of the legal landscape on ISPs and copyright owners. A decision in Cox’s favor will reduce risk of legal responsibility for ISPs and make life easier for smaller ISPs while a negative decision will increase the possibility of lawsuits from copyright owners and force ISPs to make greater efforts in enforcement of copyright protection.
