Mere knowledge of infringement and insufficient action to prevent it is not enough for an ISP to be contributorily liable for copyright infringement.
An ISP challenged a decision of the Fourth Circuit affirming its contributory liability when others used its network for copyright infringement. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed and ruled that the ISP was not liable for a claim of contributory copyright infringement.
Cox Commc’ns, Inc. v. Sony Music Entm’t, 24-171, 2026 WL 815823 (U.S. Mar. 25, 2026)
In this case, the ISP, Cox Communications, challenged the finding of contributory liability. A provider of a service is contributorily liable for a user’s infringement if it intends its service to be used for infringement. To achieve contributory liability, the copyright owner must prove that the ISP affirmatively induced the infringement or that the party sold a service tailored to infringement. Here, the copyrights owners, Sony Music Entertainment, did not prove either.
Instead, the Court concluded that Cox had limited knowledge about how its internet services are used and who uses them. Each subscriber’s account is associated with a unique IP address, but the IP address could be used by many users. Additionally, once Cox received notice from Sony Music Entertainment about the infringement, Cox sent multiple warnings and ultimately terminated the accounts.
The Supreme Court stated that mere knowledge that a service will be used to infringe is insufficient to establish the required intent. The Court found that, here, there was no evidence of express promotion, marketing, or intent to promote infringement. Also, the Court noted the sending of multiple warnings and the termination of the accounts.
