Famed record labels and music houses sue Verizon for supporting piracy through its subscribers for years – and seek damages worth $2.6 billion, reports Music Business Worldwide.
The plaintiff group listed over 17,000 tracks that Verizon customers have shared illegally over the years – and the telecom company hasn’t done anything to stop them, despite repeated DMCA notices.
An Indirect Copyright Violation
Verizon, one of the biggest telecoms of the US is getting sued by a group of big music houses – Sony Music, Warned Music and UMG Recordings – for intentionally ignoring its customers’ copyright violations for profit!
As noted by the Music Business Worldwide, the plaintiffs listed 17,335 tracks from artists or bands like Elvis Presley, Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, and Brandy, and seek $150,000 per violation under the DMCA act – which could add up to as much as $2.6 billion!
They claim to have sent “nearly 350,000 infringement notices” to Verizon since 2020, asking the telecom company to act on its customers’ illegal sharing of the group’s music tracks. Since the company ignored all of them, the music houses are now suing Verizon with both contributory and vicarious copyright charges, asking the court to award maximum penalty for each track they listed, plus the attorney’s fees.
Similar legal battles in the past include a Viacom vs. YouTube copyright dispute – where YouTube escaped by successfully arguing that it qualified for the DMCA’s “Safe Harbor” provision. And then there’s a $1 billion penalty judgment against Cox Communications overturned in the appeal court – saying that the ISP didn’t profit by ignoring music piracy.
