Verizon is the latest US internet service provider to be sued by the major record companies for not doing enough to deal with repeat copyright infringers among its customer base. Universal Music, Sony Music and Warner Music all want Verizon to be held liable for its users’ copyright infringement.
Between them, the majors say, they have sent Verizon “hundreds of thousands of copyright infringement notices”. These notices identified specific Verizon customers who have repeatedly infringed the music companies’ copyrights through online file-sharing.
The ISP, say the majors, should have dealt with those repeat infringers but instead it “buried its head in the sand” and “continued to provide its high-speed service to thousands of known repeat infringers so it could continue to collect millions of dollars from them”.
“It is well-established law that if a party materially assists someone it knows is engaging in copyright infringement, that party is fully liable for the infringement as if it had infringed directly”, the lawsuit continues. To that end, Verizon should be held liable for its users’ infringement and therefore pay mega-damages to the music companies.
The music industry has sued numerous ISPs in the US for failing to deal with repeat copyright infringers in their customer bases. The first big case involved BMG and Cox Communications. It set a precedent that if an ISP is made aware of infringement on its networks by copyright owners, and fails to take tangible steps to stop that infringement, it can be held liable.
When the majors subsequently sued Cox, again proving the ISP’s liability, they won a billion dollars in damages. Although those mega-damages were ultimately overturned on appeal and are still subject to court proceedings.
That Verizon is now on the receiving end of legal action of this kind is interesting. Unlike Cox – and the other ISPs that have been sued to date – Verizon was part of a scheme in the mid-2010s which saw some internet companies collaborate with the music and movie industries on trying to crack down on illegal file-sharing.
However, that scheme ended in 2017 and, it seems, more recently Verizon has been unwilling to help the music companies protect their copyrights.