The Hill - The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that Sony cannot hold Cox Communications liable for not disconnecting customers who illegally downloaded copyrighted music, a battle that has sent ripples through the music and telecommunications industries. Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said a lower court got it wrong in putting Cox on the hook for damages over its users. Though the outcome for Cox was unanimous, two of the liberal justices didn’t sign onto Thomas’s broader reasoning.
“Under our precedents, a company is not liable as a copyright infringer for merely providing a service to the general public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights,” Thomas wrote....
The case has jolted the music and telecommunications industries ever since Sony won a $1 billion judgment against Cox at trial. The battle has also attracted interest from First Amendment and civil rights groups, who believe it poses broader free speech implications for bookstores and social media platforms.
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