📰 New article from TorrentFreak
Supreme Court Wipes Piracy Liability Verdict Against Grande Communications
https://torrentfreak.com/supreme-court-wipes-piracy-liability-verdict-against-grande-communications/
### The $47 Million Ghost
If you thought your internet bill was high, try being Grande Communications. They were staring down a massive $47 million verdict after a jury decided they weren’t doing enough to stop pirates on their network. But in a classic legal “hold my beer” moment, the Supreme Court just tossed a wrench into those plans.
The drama centers on whether an Internet Service Provider (ISP) is responsible for what its customers do. The music industry argued that because Grande kept providing service to flagged IP addresses, they were complicit in piracy.
However, the Supreme Court recently set a much higher bar in a similar case (Cox v. Sony). The justices ruled that “knowledge” isn’t the same as “intent.” To be held liable, it’s not enough for an ISP to know people are pirating; you have to prove they actually intended for their service to be used for infringement.
What this means for Grande:
- The original $47 million verdict has been vacated.
- The case is being sent back down to the lower courts.
- The music labels now have to prove “active inducement” rather than just pointing at a pile of infringement notices.
It’s a massive win for ISPs and a huge headache for record labels. For now, that $47 million payday is looking more like a distant memory.