Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment: Oral Argument

Case Summary: Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment arises from a suit by Sony and other record labels alleging that Cox’s internet customers used its service to download and share pirated music, after Cox received millions of infringement notices identifying specific subscriber accounts. In the Eastern District of Virginia, Sony proceeded on theories of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement, presenting evidence that Cox knew particular subscribers were repeatedly infringing yet chose not to terminate their service and operated an intentionally lax “repeat infringer” policy that disqualified it from the DMCA safe harbor. A jury found Cox liable for willful contributory and vicarious infringement of 10,017 works and awarded $1 billion in statutory damages, and the Fourth Circuit later upheld contributory liability while rejecting vicarious liability and vacating the damages award. The issue before the Supreme Court is whether a defendant can be held liable for contributory copyright infringement based on a jury instruction that allowed liability if Cox “knew or should have known” of its subscribers’ infringing activity, or whether contributory infringement instead requires proof that the defendant actually knew of specific acts of infringement (or was willfully blind to them)