Universal Music Corp, Capitol Records, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, and Sony Music Publishing, the suit accuses Charter of having “knowingly contributed to, and reaped substantial profits from, massive copyright infringement committed by thousands of its subscribers”. Claiming that subscribers signed on to Charter because of the download high-speeds, and Charter had no intention to mitigate this because of their financial gain.
Charter has 29 Million subscribers, and the plaintiffs have submitted thousands of entries of illegal downloading by Charter subscribers. Te labels and publishers are seeking “$150,000 per each instance of alleged infringement, which means that, with the recordings and compositions combined, the total damages sought equates to 2,805 x $150,000, or at least $420 million.”
“In the original lawsuit from 2019…they claimed that “Charter deliberately refused to take reasonable measures to curb customers from using its Internet services to infringe on others’ copyrights” and that the ISP’s “contribution to its subscribers’ infringement is both willful and extensive, and renders Charter equally liable”.
It adds: “Accordingly, in its consumer marketing material, including material directed to Colorado customers, Charter has touted how its service enables subscribers to download and upload large amounts of content at ‘lightning-fast’ and ‘blazing-fast Internet speeds’.”
They claim further that Charter was repeatedly notified that many of its subscribers were illegally downloading their content, and that those notices included “specific identities of its infringing subscribers, referred to by their unique IP addresses”.
“Charter undoubtedly recognized that if it terminated or otherwise prevented repeat infringer subscribers from using its service to infringe, or made it less attractive for such use, Charter would enroll fewer new subscribers, lose existing subscribers, and ultimately lose revenue.
– Excerpt from an article for Music Business World by Murry Stassen. Read the full article here.
____________________________________________________________________
Disclaimer: Please note that the information contained within this news post and site is offered simply as a consideration to visitors who are in the entertainment industry and are seeking to learn more about various areas of entertainment, be it in film, movies, television, music, digital, new media, film financing, merchandising and/or branding. As such, the information so provided should never be construed as legal advice. If you need further assistance or legal advice for your specific matter, please do not hesitate in contacting an entertainment attorney (film, music, digital, licensing, financing) here in Los Angeles, California at The Hollywood Lawyer by(1) emailing us at info@hollywoodlawyer.com; (2) calling us at (323) 300-4184; or (3) filling out our online form.
