Cox Moves to Overturn $1 Billion Music Suit

Lawyers for Cox Communications will begin oral arguments on March 9 in the appeal of a $1 billion copyright infringement award that it says is not only wrong on a legal basis, but could upend the entire broadband industry if it is allowed to stay. A Virginia federal court awarded 53 music publishers, including Sony Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music and others, $1 billion in December 2019, agreeing with claims that despite complaints and warnings from the music publishers, Cox continued to allow its broadband subscribers to illegally download music. All in all the publishers found 10,017 instances of infringement by Cox customers, and a jury assigned a value of $99,830.29 to each one, for a total of $1 billion. Cox immediately appealed the decision, but that was rejected by another federal court in Virginia in June 2021, which upheld the verdict. The latest appeal is before the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond (VA) with oral arguments set for March 9. A decision is expected sometime in spring 2022.