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Commentary: How the Music Industry Can Learn from Cable When It Comes to ISPs and Infringement

By Keith Hauprich
May 01, 2022

Given the current proliferation of Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+, Discovery+, Paramount+ and streaming services torchbearer Netflix, no truer words may have ever been uttered than "content is king." Piracy, on the other hand, is older than the printing press.

In the last two decades, the music industry and, more specifically, songwriters, producers and recording artists have been losing the value of their efforts to online piracy while certain Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may deliberately turn a blind eye to their pirating subscribers while reaping the benefit of the subscribers' monthly payments.

The legal precedent here is clear due to the four-year, pitched battle between BMG and ISP provider Cox Communications that resulted in a holding that ISPs can be held liable for their subscribers' infringement. BMG Rights Management (US) LLC v. Cox Communications Inc., 881 F.3d 293 (4th Cir. 2018). The record labels have brought subsequent ISP cases against Cox, Grande, Charter, RCN and Bright House to combat infringement. And now a collective of film producers is pursuing Wide Open West, Grande and RCN.

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