dian-s-cahya-istockphoto-com-cash-
17 February 2017Copyright

Cox Communications to pay $8.4m attorneys’ fees in BMG clash

Internet service provider (ISP) Cox Communications has been ordered to pay music company BMG Rights Management nearly $8.4 million in attorneys’ fees in a piracy dispute.

In 2015, WIPR reported that Cox had been ordered to pay $25 million in damages after it failed to introduce an anti-piracy mechanism for its service.

A jury at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that Cox was liable for direct and contributory copyright infringement in its dispute with BMG.

The jury also ruled that Cox had wilfully infringed BMG’s copyright.

The month before, WIPR’s sister site TBO reported that the district court had removed Cox’s safe harbour status under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) because it had failed to implement an anti-piracy policy.

ISPs are protected from copyright infringement claims under the DMCA if they can demonstrate that they have a policy of terminating accounts that are found to be illegally sharing protected material.

In August 2016, WIPR reported that Cox had announced its intent to appeal against the decision. It filed its appeal in November.

Then, in December, BMG filed its response to the appeal at the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

The music company claimed that Cox didn’t address the conduct for which it was found liable in its appeal.

“Instead, Cox proposes radical reinterpretations of both contributory infringement law and the DMCA that have never been accepted by any court and that would immunise Cox and its fellow conduit ISPs from secondary liability for online copyright infringement,” said the response.

On February 14, Judge Liam O’Grady of the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division ordered Cox to pay BMG nearly $8.4 million in attorneys’ fees in a memorandum opinion.

The opinion only dealt with the parties’ motions for attorneys’ fees and costs.

BMG’s motions for attorneys’ fees and costs was denied in part and granted in part.

Keith Hauprich, deputy general counsel at BMG, said: "We are very pleased with the ruling on our motion for costs and fees."

He added that Judge O’Grady had made it "abundantly clear" that the safe harbour provision of the DMCA is not a "magical and absolute sanctuary that envelops an ISP by merely chanting the words".

"We, too, are hopeful that this will embolden other rights holders to combat deep pocketed wilful infringers as the creative community deserves to be allowed to prosper from their craft," he added.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Copyright
3 January 2017   Music company BMG Rights Management has hit back at an appeal filed by internet service provider Cox Communications against a copyright infringement ruling.
Copyright
18 December 2015   A US court has ordered internet service provider Cox Communications to pay out $25 million in damages after it failed to introduce an anti-piracy mechanism in its service.
Copyright
29 July 2021   Cox Communications has resolved its copyright case with music company BMG Rights Management and Rightscorp that centred on a dispute over thousands of allegedly invalid copyright notices.