Supreme Court Follows EFF's Reasoning in Cox v. Sony

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court released its opinion in Cox v. Sony. As EFF argued in its amicus brief, secondary copyright liability should be governed by the same rules as patent law. Secondary liability arises if someone actively induces infringement by its customers, or if someone sells goods or services that it knows are not capable of substantial noninfringing uses.  Here, Cox didn't actively induce its customers to infringe—to the contrary, it took active steps to discourage and prevent infringement. And the internet services Cox provided to its customers are overwhelmingly used for noninfringing purposes. Thus, the Supreme Court correctly reversed the Fourth Circuit decision, and held that Cox was not liable in this case.

 EFF's blog post about the opinion is here.