The federal government is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Cox Communications' cert petition challenging an appellate court affirmation of a jury's finding of willful contributory copyright infringement by the ISP (see 2408160034). In an amicus brief Tuesday (docket 24-171), the U.S. solicitor general said there's an appellate court split over the issue of whether an ISP materially contributes to copyright infringement by continuing to provide internet access to subscribers after receiving notice that they're infringing copyright. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision holding Cox liable departs from SCOTUS' contributory-infringement precedents, the brief said. It also urged the high court to grant review of Cox's petition questioning when a contributory infringer can be held liable for enhanced statutory damages based on a finding of “willful” infringement. The jury in the Cox case was mistakenly told it could find Cox's violations willful even if Cox reasonably believed that not opting to cut off infringing subscribers' internet access was consistent with the Copyright Act, the solicitor general said. In docket 24-181, however, the brief called for SCOTUS to deny review of the vicarious liability question in the plaintiff/respondent music labels' petition. The solicitor general said the 4th Circuit correctly held that a plaintiff's vicarious infringement allegation must show the defendant profited from the infringement.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted a default judgment Thursday (docket 1:25-cv-00388) against the parties behind several alleged pirate video streaming services. Theatrical and streaming studio plaintiffs urged the court Wednesday to enter the default judgment, saying the defendants behind such streaming services as Shrugs, Zing, BTV and Viking Media have ignored litigation filed against them in March.

Public Knowledge said President Donald Trump’s firing of the register of copyrights was illegal, and his termination of the librarian of Congress was motivated by prejudice. Register Shira Perlmutter was reportedly fired by email Saturday, and Librarian Carla Hayden was removed from office last week. “The president has as much legal power to fire the Register of Copyrights as I do, which is to say: none,” said Public Knowledge Senior Policy Counsel Meredith Rose in a release. “The Register of Copyrights is hireable and fireable only by the Librarian of Congress, and does not report to the president or the executive branch in any capacity.” Hayden’s termination was likely within Trump’s authority but came after the website Libs of the Library of Congress condemned her, Public Knowledge said. Hayden was the first Black librarian of Congress, and the first woman. “Anyone who thinks these things are unconnected lives in a state of ignorance,” Rose said. “Carla Hayden was fired because she is Black, and Shira Perlmutter remains the Register of Copyrights -- no matter what anyone says.” The White House didn’t comment.

Grande Communications' certiorari petition asks the U.S. Supreme Court to settle a question "utterly divorced from reality" and offers "nothing certworthy," record label UMG Records and others said Friday (docket 24-967) in an opposition brief. Grande Communications is challenging an October ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a lower court finding that Grande was liable for contributory copyright infringement for not terminating the service of internet users accused of piracy.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' 2024 decision that Cox Communications was liable for contributory copyright infringement "poses an existential threat" to federal efforts to close the digital divide, USTelecom told DOJ's Solicitor General's Office last week. In a letter Friday, USTelecom urged the solicitor general to file a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to grant Cox Communications' cert petition that seeks to reverse the appellate court decision. In addition, USTelecom said the 4th Circuit decision serves as "a direct threat to the internet service providers investing in and building broadband networks" to close the digital divide. Broadband providers "focus on connecting customers to the internet; they do nothing to encourage, nor do they benefit from, rogue users’ infringement of content owners’ copyrights." Music labels suing Cox "wish to turn broadband providers into their own internet content police." Moreover, it said, copyright holders' threats of massive lawsuits for not terminating internet access "are chilling." Absent a reversal of the 4th Circuit decision, "broadband providers have no choice but strict adherence to content owners’ increasingly draconian demands, taking thousands of households and businesses offline or otherwise face crushing liability."

Successes over the past year in combating piracy included shuttering Fmovies and associated video piracy sites (see 2408290025), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said Wednesday in the latest annual Notorious Markets list. Fmovies was on the list since 2017, it said. USTR said the wide use of cyberlockers and "bulletproof" internet service providers that are particularly lenient toward piracy remain areas of concern. The reliance on bulletproof ISPs makes it increasingly difficult for rights holders to remove infringing content, especially when ISPs disguise their ownership and locations and won't respond to rights holders’ takedown requests, USTR said. The 38 online piracy markets highlighted in the 2024 report include video piracy sites 1337X, GenIPTV, MagisTV and Vegamovies.

A large, Vietnam-based video piracy operation has been taken down, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment said Thursday. The operation's sites logged 812 million visits over the past 12 months and was the largest sports piracy ring ACE has taken down so far, it said. The ring's shuttered sites include bestsolaris.com, streameast.to and markkystreams.com. ACE said the operators have agreed to transfer 138 domains to the ACE coalition.

The Motion Picture Association will broaden its anti-piracy efforts on detection and deterrence, with the trade group planning to broaden its visibility into global piracy networks, Chief Content Protection Officer Larissa Knapp blogged last week. She said it also will look at "new ways to put 'sand in the gears' of the criminal enterprises" behind video privacy. Live sports piracy will be a major focus, Knapp added.

The U.S. Supreme Court is asking the solicitor general to weigh in on the related Cox Communications and Sony Music cert petitions pending before the high court, according to a notation Monday. Cox and an array of music labels led by Sony have dueling appeals regarding a 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision. The court upheld a district court jury’s finding of willful contributory copyright infringement against Cox for the piracy of some of its internet customers.

The U.S. Supreme Court should resolve circuit court confusion about how contributory liability applies to the internet "before it is too late," petitioner Cox Communications said in a reply brief Monday (docket 24-171). Cox is seeking SCOTUS review of a 4th U.S. Circuit decision upholding a jury's $1 billion verdict of willful contributor copyright infringement against Cox for piracy by some of its internet subscribers (see 2408160034). In its reply brief, Cox also urged SCOTUS to rule that internet service providers "are not required to police everything that happens online." Cox said the music label respondents don't deny there are circuit splits. It disputed the appellant music labels' argument of hypocrisy. Cox acknowledged it stops providing services for nonpayment, but that "does not justify forcing every ISP to conduct mass internet evictions for infractions worth, on average, $1 each." The music labels are petitioners and Cox the appellant in a related cert petition. It concerns a circuit court split over how a defendant must benefit from direct copyright infringement to be vicariously liable (docket 24-181) (see [Ref:2409170001).