Photo Credit: Marques Thomas
Verizon is now filing a motion to dismiss the major labels’ infringement lawsuit, calling the entire action ‘legally deficient.’
Verizon claims the major labels’ lawsuit involving the amount of piracy on its network should be tossed out, arguing that the music companies can’t use the “same playbook” that saw them win a similar lawsuit against Cox Communications. According to the telecom provider, the music labels’ allegations rest on a “faulty premise.”
The case, filed in July by Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group, alleges that Verizon looked the other way in the face of repeated warnings of piracy on its network. Verizon effectively “[buried] its head in the sand” as its users illegally downloaded and shared music.
Now, Verizon is filing a beefy motion to dismiss the case, one that rips apart a number of major label assertions. According to the filing, viewed by DMN over the weekend, Verizon is calling the entire premise of the lawsuit “legally deficient” in asserting an internet provider should be held liable for its users’ behavior.
“When people do bad things online, their internet service providers are not typically the ones to blame. This lawsuit claims otherwise. The plaintiffs are massive record labels — together worth billions — alleging that some people illegally shared their artists’ songs over the internet. Yet they made a calculated choice not to sue those people,” Verizon’s attorneys wrote.
To prove that an internet provider is liable for secondary copyright infringement would require evidence of “culpable action, not passive inaction,” the attorneys for Verizon continue. “The labels do not allege that Verizon encouraged music piracy or even wanted it to happen. All Verizon did was sell general internet access, which some people abused to share copyrighted music with others.”
Verizon’s attorneys pointed out a 2023 ruling by the US Supreme Court in which it was found that companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter could not be sued for “aiding and abetting” terrorism just because terrorists posted content to social media.
But the labels’ case against Verizon is just the latest in a long series of major lawsuits aimed at ISPs to encourage them to take more proactive steps in eliminating piracy on their networks. Similar cases have been filed against Charter, RCN, and Cox Communications.
“The labels filed this lawsuit because the same playbook has worked against others. But the decisions blessing those lawsuits were wrong then and even less persuasive now,” Verizon’s attorneys wrote. “This complaint should be dismissed.”
