IN
THE
UNITEDSTATES
DISTRICTCOURT
FOR
THE
EASTERN
DISTRICT
OF
VIRGINIA
Alexandria
Division
f
I
—:::.Tn
U
J
Jr
PR
US
UlblRlCT
OURT
VIRGINIA
.
BMG
RIGHTS
MANAGEMENT
US)
LLC,
Plaintiff,
V
COXCOMMUNICATIONS,
INC.,
and
COXCOM,
LLC,
Defendants.
Civil
No.
l:14-cv-1611
Hon.
Liam
O Grady
Memorandum
Opinion
This
case
presents
thequestion
of
whether
a
conduit
internet
service
provider
may
be
heldliable
forthe
infringingactivity
ofits
subscribersbased
onthe
uploading
and
downloading
of
copyrighted
musicalworksusing
BitTorrent,
a
peer-to-peer
file
sharing
network.
The
plaintiff
inthis
action,
BMGRights
Management
(US)
LLC
( BMG )»
seekstoholdCox
Communications,Inc.andCoxCom,LLC(collectively, Cox )secondarilyliableforthe
reproduction
and
distribution
of
1,397
musical
compositioncopyrights
by
users
of
Cox s
highspeedinternetservice
between
February
2,
2012and
November
26,2014.
After
a
two-week
trial,
ajury
found
Cox
not
liable
for
vicariousinfringement,
but
liable
for
willfulcontributory
infringement.ThejuryawardedBMG 25millioninstatutorydamages.PendingbeforetheCourtaretheparties'post-trialmotions.Coxmovesforjudgmentas
amatter
of
lawor,alternatively,foranewtrial.(Dkt.No.760).BMGseeksjudgmentasa
matteroflawonitsclaimofvicariousinfringementaswellaspermanentinjunctiverelief.(Dkt.
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