The Supreme Court handed internet providers a major win Wednesday, unanimously ruling that Sony can’t hold Cox Communications liable for failing to boot users accused of pirating music.
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the court, said a lower court went too far in seeking to impose copyright damages on Cox for its customers’ actions. While the ruling itself was unanimous, two liberal justices declined to sign onto Thomas’ broader reasoning.
“Under our precedents, a company is not liable as a copyright infringer for merely providing a service to the general public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights,” Thomas wrote.
The court‘s decision raises the bar for suing internet providers. Thomas said companies must actually intend for their services to be used for piracy or design them for illegal activity before they can be held liable.
