Justices’ Music Piracy Ruling Could Reverberate Beyond ISPs

Will Milliken, director and co-chair of Sterne Kessler’s appellate practice, spoke to Law360 on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Cox Communications is not liable for customers’ music piracy in Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, Inc.

Milliken said that the facts of the case made a straightforward decision. “[Cox] wasn’t going out and telling people, ‘You should choose our internet service to download copyrighted works,’ and it’s sort of a truism that internet service is something that has many noninfringing uses.”

He also noted that prior to the Court’s ruling, there was uncertainty whether contributory liability in copyright law extended beyond inducement and that Justice Thomas’ opinion “seems to make it pretty clear that there are no other forms of contributory liability.”