• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 9, 2024

Verizon is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by record labels that seek to hold the telecom responsible for copyright infringement by broadband subscribers who allegedly shared music on peer-to-peer networks.

“When people do bad things online, their internet service providers are not typically the ones to blame,” Verizon argues in papers filed last week with U.S. District Court Judge Margaret Garnett in the Southern District of New York.

“This lawsuit claims otherwise,” the telecom adds.

Verizon's papers come in response to a lawsuit brought in July by Universal, Warner and Sony, which claimed that Verizon facilitated infringement by failing to disconnect subscribers suspected of sharing music online.

The record companies alleged that Verizon ignored notices about subscribers who allegedly shared thousands of tracks, including music by The Rolling Stones, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and 50 Cent.

“Instead of taking action in response to those infringement notices as the law requires, Verizon ignored plaintiffs’ notices and buried its head in the sand,” the labels claimed in their complaint.

Verizon counters in a motion seeking dismissal of the case that even if those allegations were proven true, they would show only “passive inaction.”

“Contributory infringement requires culpable action, not passive inaction,” Verizon argues.

“Verizon’s mere failure to cut off subscribers’ internet access -- no matter how many emails asked it to -- did not materially contribute to their infringement,” it adds.

The company points to the Supreme Court's recent decision in a lawsuit accusing Meta, YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, of facilitating terrorism by failing to remove terrorists' posts.

The court ruled in May 2023 that the social media companies' alleged failure to take down content didn't establish liability for aiding and abetting terrorism.

Verizon now says the same logic should preclude liability for its alleged failure to disconnect alleged file-sharers.

The telecom acknowledges in its motion that record labels have won damage awards or settlements from other internet service providers accused of failing to terminate subscribers, but says those outcomes were erroneous.

“The labels filed this lawsuit because the same playbook has worked against others,” Verizon writes, adding that prior rulings against internet service providers “were wrong then and are even less persuasive now.”

In one closely watched case, Cox Communications was found liable for copyright infringement on the theory that it failed to terminate service to suspected file-sharers, and was ordered to pay $1 billion in damages.

Cox appealed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which left in place a finding that Cox contributed to infringement, but said the company should have a new trial regarding damages.

Cox recently asked the Supreme Court to intervene in that matter.