Cox Not Liable For Subscribers' Piracy, SCOTUS Rules
“A company is not liable as a copyright infringer for merely providing a service to the general public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.
Siding against record companies, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that Cox Communications was not liable for copyright infringement by subscribers who unlawfully downloaded music.
“Under our precedents, a company is not liable as a copyright infringer for merely providing a service to the general public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in an opinion joined by six of his colleagues.
“The provider of a service is contributorily liable for the user’s infringement only if it intended that the provided service be used for infringement,” he added, noting that in 1984 the court ruled that Betamax was not liable for infringement, even though its devices could be used to record and then unlawfully sell copyrighted programs.
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