Question

Summarize an article regarding a recent (last few months) copyright or trademark dispute (include reference or link)

Answer 1

Article: BMG v. Co

A lawsuit in which Cox Communications was charged by BMG Rights Management with contributory and vicarious copyright infringement based on peer-to-peer file sharing by its subscribers.

The lower court held that Cox had not qualified under the DMCA for safe harbor security because "no fair jury could consider that Cox had adopted a policy of[ repeat infringer]" as required by the DMCA to secure harbor. The Fourth Circuit reviewed the summary judgment granted by the district court on this de novo issue. Cox claimed that the district court erred in granting a summary judgment in favor of BMG and that the phrase "repeat infringers" as used in § 512(i)(1)(A) should be limited to the infringers adjudicated.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed with Cox's definition and affirmed to the lower court that "Congress understood how to specifically apply to the adjudicated violation, but did not do so in the serial infringer clause" and that "the word ' infringer ' in 512(i) is not limited to adjudicated infringers.For these purposes, the Fourth Circuit upheld the decision of the lower court that Cox is not qualified of DMCA safe harbor security for failing to fairly enforce a repeat infringer rule "in any coherent or meaningful manner — essentially leaving it without regulation." BMG petitioned for trial but was rejected, and the parties eventually resolved the case.