Cox Asks Supreme Court To Overturn Piracy Ruling

Internet service provider Cox Communications asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to review a ruling that held the company responsible for its users' music piracy and led to a $1 billion verdict for a group of major record labels against the ISP, Reuters is reporting.

Cox argued that the decision to hold it liable for piracy of thousands of songs from labels including Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group had created "confusion, disruption, and chaos on the internet," according to a copy of the petition provided by the company.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February upheld part of a jury verdict that Cox committed secondary copyright infringement by failing to address user piracy, while also throwing out a $1 billion award for the labels and ordering a new trial to redetermine the amount of damages that Cox owed for the infringement.

"We look forward to responding to Cox's petition, which on first read is substantively meritless," the labels' attorney Matt Oppenheim of Oppenheim + Zebrak said. Oppenheim said that the labels would file their own Supreme Court challenge on Friday seeking to reinstate the billion-dollar verdict.

Cox spokesperson Todd Smith said its Supreme Court petition "aims to protect users' privacy and avoid unintended consequences that will harm innocent and non-infringing consumers."

More than 50 labels teamed up to sue Cox in 2018. They accused Cox of failing to address thousands of infringement notices, cut off access for repeat infringers or take reasonable measures to deter pirates.

A Virginia jury found in 2019 that Cox owed $1 billion in damages for its customers' violations of more than 10,000 music copyrights.