Verizon “ignores” infringement notices. Music labels sue for $2.6B

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Recording publishers Sony, Universal, Warner and ABKCO and multiple subsidiaries together filed a complaint against Verizon Communications, Verizon Wireless and Verizon Services Corp., second largest communications carriers in the US; for “knowingly” providing high-speed internet access service for “a massive community of online pirates.”  The music labels estimated the value of the stolen music content as exceeding $130B just in 2023 alone.

Even though Verizon has an explicit copyright infringement policy and a process for submitting complaints, the labels said that Verizon had been unresponsive to “hundreds of thousands” (italics theirs) of copyright infringement notices that identify specific subscribers who steal recordings via P2P file sharing networks.

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The lawsuit turns Verizon’s own advertising tag line, “Can you hear me now,” against it, saying that Verizon has “intentionally chosen not to listen to complaints from copyright owners.”  The Complaint is accompanied by a 408 page exhibit that lists illegal instances of individual music titles that were found online.

Excerpt from the exhibit included with the Complaint by music labels against Verizon. Source: US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Civ. Case No. 24-cv-5285

Despite more than 340,000 notices to Verizon since early 2020, the carrier allegedly continued to facilitate downloading by known repeat infringers through the BitTorrent P2P network; leading the record labels to conclude that Verizon prioritized revenue from broadband access services over the policing of copyright infringement.

Thousands of users received 20 or more notices from the record labels; more than 500 of them received 100 or more notices.  One in particular received 4,450 notices, according to the complaint.

As per 17 U.S.C. § 504(c), the plaintiffs say that they are entitled to damages amounting to as much as $150,000 for each work infringed.  The language in the Complaint says that a jury trial is “demanded.”

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Why it matters

The plaintiffs are “record companies or recorded music businesses that produce, manufacture, distribute, sell, and license commercial sound recordings both in the United States and internationally. Through their enormous investments of money, time, and exceptional creative efforts, Plaintiffs and the recording artists they represent have developed and/or distributed some of the world’s most famous music.”

The complaint asserts that “Verizon’s contribution to its subscribers’ infringement is both willful and extensive, and it renders Verizon equally liable for that infringement. Indeed, for years, Verizon deliberately refused to take action to prevent its customers from using its Internet services to infringe others’ copyrights, including Plaintiffs’ copyrights—even after Verizon was put on notice of particular customers engaging in specific, repeated acts of infringement.”

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