The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dove into the legal thicket surrounding the Cox ISP $1B Piracy Case Liability suit, pressing the cable giant on whether an internet service provider could ever be held responsible for the misdeeds of its subscribers.
During a pointed exchange, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson confronted Cox’s attorney, Joshua Rosenkranz of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, bluntly asking whether the company believed “selling internet services can ever be culpable conduct.”
“Your Honor, that’s not our claim,” Rosenkranz replied, clarifying that an ISP can only be liable when it “engages either in clear expression such as inducement or in affirmative acts.”
A $1 Billion Verdict Looms in the Background
Cox is asking the justices to overturn a Fourth Circuit ruling that upheld a Virginia federal jury’s mammoth $1 billion award to Sony, Capitol Records LLC, and other leading music publishers. The jury found Cox both contributorily and vicariously liable for copyright infringement tied to widespread piracy by its subscribers.
While the Fourth Circuit preserved the contributory infringement finding, it tossed the vicarious liability verdict and sent the case back to recalculate damages. Cox maintains that offering internet access alone does not signal an intent to promote piracy.
