Cox calls $1.1 billion damages award ‘shockingly excessive’
US internet service provider (ISP) Cox Communications wants a new trial after it was ordered to pay $1.1 billion in damages to leading record labels including Universal for music copyright infringement.
In a motion filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Friday, January 31 Cox said the December 2019 damages award was “shockingly excessive and unlawfully punitive”.
A jury issued the award after it found Cox liable for secondary copyright infringement, because it failed to crack down on the activities of its customers, who were accused of illegally downloading songs owned by the plaintiffs.
Immediately in the wake of the verdict, Cox pledged to “vigorously” defend itself against what it called an “egregious amount” of damages.
The ISP has now followed through on its promise, with a strongly-worded motion urging the court to correct what it called a “miscarriage of justice”.
Central to Cox’s argument is that the $1.1 billion sum eclipses every other judgment in copyright infringement suits.
“The award of $1 billion appears to be the largest award of statutory copyright damages in history. This is not by a matter of degree. It is the largest such award by a factor of eight,” the motion read.
Cox has asked the court to order either a new trial to determine damages, or reduce the sum it owes the record labels.
The ISP says that the sum is particularly disproportionate given that it was found liable for secondary infringement.
“Awards rendered against secondary infringers like Cox are systematically smaller than awards against direct infringers,” the ISP said.
The largest damages award previously issued against a secondary infringer who did not stand to directly profit from the infringing activity was, in fact, also against Cox. That award came in a 2015 ruling in favour of BMG Rights Management, who secured damages of $25 million.
“The $1 billion award thus appears to be the largest ever against an infringer situated like Cox—by a factor of 40,” the ISP wrote.
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