3 Count: Too Little, Too Late

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1: Court Denies Cox’s Challenge of $1 Billion Music Piracy Verdict

First off today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that a Virginia federal court has rejected Cox Communications’ bid to overturn a $1 billion judgment against them in their long-running dispute with the record labels.

The lawsuit was originally filed by the record labels in 2018 and accused Cox of failing to do enough to stop piracy on its network. In December 2019, a jury ruled in favor of the labels and ordered Cox to pay $1 Billion in damages. Since then, Cox has been working to get that overturned or reduced, arguing that there were issues with the evidence presented and that the amount itself is excessive.

However, their attempt at the district court level has failed as the court has said that Cox received a fair trial, had ample time to challenge the evidence and that the jury’s decision was based on a reasonable process. Cox is also pursuing an appeal with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and that matter is still ongoing.

2: Florida Court Says Hosting Company Can’t Be Liable for Copyright Infringement Via VPN it Hosts

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that a Florida court has upheld an early ruling that said internet service provider Quadranet cannot be held liable for providing hosting services to LiquidVPN, a service that several film studios accuse of enabling piracy.

Quadranet is a large internet service provider that counts LiquidVPN among its clients. A group of independent studios recently targeted LiquidVPN for allegedly encouraging and enabling piracy, a move that prompted the service to Block BitTorrent traffic on its network (even though they have not defended themselves in this lawsuit).

Quadranet, on the other hand, did push back, and the court agreed that they are under no obligation to block a VPN service that may be used for piracy. The studios had asked the court to reconsider that decision, but the court has now upheld that decision.

3: Bungie Files Lawsuit Against Individuals Behind False Destiny Copyright Takedowns

Finally today, Matt Wales at Eurogamer reports that video game maker Bungie has filed a lawsuit against several John Doe defendants that it claims impersonated the company to file false Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedowns for Bungie content with YouTube.

The story began last week when several YouTube channels, including Bungie’s own, were hit with takedown notices over content related to the game Destiny 2. At the time, Bungie denied that the takedowns were coming from them.

Now they have taken the next step and have filed a lawsuit that they hope will enable them to unmask the individual or individuals behind those notices and hold them liable for damages. Bungie also blames YouTube for the issue, saying that their process for filing takedown notices is insecure and prone to abuse.

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