Record labels denounce ISP as infringement ‘haven’
The music industry is continuing to put pressure on internet service providers (ISP) to tackle copyright infringement by their customers, with US-based RCN Corporation the latest defendant in a new lawsuit.
According to record labels including Universal Music, Sony, and Capitol Records, RCN has ignored repeated infringement notices and in doing so have materially contributed to “massive” copyright infringement”.
In March this year, Grande Communications, a sister company of RCN, was denied safe harbour defence under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protects ISPs from liability providing they have made reasonable efforts to tackle infringement.
In that case, the US District Court for the Western District of Texas found that although Grande had adopted a “public-facing policy” with respect to copyright infringement, it had taken no practical steps to implement it.
The same charges are now being levelled against RCN, Grande’s parent company. Record labels have sought to head off any potential safe harbour defence in the lawsuit, citing the summary judgment against Grande.
According to the complaint, “RCN’s policies and practices with respect to copyright infringement have been materially the same as its sister company Grande’s”.
The suit said that RCN’s purported anti-infringement policy was a “sham”, given that it had failed to act on more than five million infringement notices.
According to the copyright owners, RCN deliberately operated as a “haven” for infringers.
The company promoted its high-speed internet services, “knowing that the ability to download copyrighted materials...illegally using high-speed internet, without repercussions, was a substantial draw for infringers,” the suit claimed.
Many of the same record labels are also suing Cox Communications, another ISP, as part of a concerted effort by the music industry to make ISPs liable for their customers’ infringing conduct.
In an attempt to push back, Cox has sued the Recording Industry Association of America for access to documents, which it says will prove that the music industry’s preferred model of tackling infringement is not as effective as it claims.
According to the record labels, however, Cox is engaging in “delaying tactics and gamesmanship”, after it pulled out of a settlement conference at the “eleventh hour”.
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