ISP Cox Communications demands more than $100,000 in damages from Round Hill Music. This amount is said to compensate for the legal fees the ISP incurred because of false copyright claims. Round Hill Music sued the ISP in 2015 over alleged infringements committed by the Cox subscribers, but it eventually turned out that it didn’t actually own any of the copyrights in question.
Back in December 2015, a federal court decided that Cox Communications was responsible for the copyright violations of its customers and ordered to pay BMG music publisher $25 million in damages. However, Cox quickly appealed and it turned out that BMG was not the only plaintiff in this case – the initial complaint also listed Round Hill Music, though its claims were soon dismissed, because the music outfit didn’t own the copyrights for the questionable content. This part was favorable for Cox, but the ISP had to spend the hundreds of hours countering the false copyright claims and now hopes to be compensated.
The ISP explains that Round Hill had a losing case from start to finish, as it brought claims of copyright infringement without owning any copyrights and then continued to pursue its claims even after this problem had been exposed. In other words, Round Hill Music intentionally tried to hide their shortcomings in the hope to win millions in damages like BMG.
After their plan failed, the ISP sued it back asking the court for compensation, claiming that it invested considerable time and effort in discovery pinning down Round Hill’s elusive and false ownership claims. The lawyers explain that in awarding legal fees and costs, an important aspect decided by the court is the “degree of success” of the prevailing defendant. In this case, there is little doubt about the outcome.
Considering that it spent more than 300 hours on attorney and paralegal work, Cox now wants an award of $71,835 plus $35,000 for time spent on the current motion and future replies.
The bad news for the Internet service provider is that it is not the only party in the case to submit such a motion: the winning party in the case did exactly the same, but their demands exceed $13 million, which is quite a scary prospect for Cox.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
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Date: Wednesday, October 5th, 2016
Back in December 2015, a federal court decided that Cox Communications was responsible for the copyright violations of its customers and ordered to pay BMG music publisher $25 million in damages. However, Cox quickly appealed and it turned out that BMG was not the only plaintiff in this case – the initial complaint also listed Round Hill Music, though its claims were soon dismissed, because the music outfit didn’t own the copyrights for the questionable content. This part was favorable for Cox, but the ISP had to spend the hundreds of hours countering the false copyright claims and now hopes to be compensated.
The ISP explains that Round Hill had a losing case from start to finish, as it brought claims of copyright infringement without owning any copyrights and then continued to pursue its claims even after this problem had been exposed. In other words, Round Hill Music intentionally tried to hide their shortcomings in the hope to win millions in damages like BMG.
After their plan failed, the ISP sued it back asking the court for compensation, claiming that it invested considerable time and effort in discovery pinning down Round Hill’s elusive and false ownership claims. The lawyers explain that in awarding legal fees and costs, an important aspect decided by the court is the “degree of success” of the prevailing defendant. In this case, there is little doubt about the outcome.
Considering that it spent more than 300 hours on attorney and paralegal work, Cox now wants an award of $71,835 plus $35,000 for time spent on the current motion and future replies.
The bad news for the Internet service provider is that it is not the only party in the case to submit such a motion: the winning party in the case did exactly the same, but their demands exceed $13 million, which is quite a scary prospect for Cox.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
Posted by:
SaM
Date: Wednesday, October 5th, 2016
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