Supreme Court rules against music industry in piracy case

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

Updated March 25, 2026, 12:08 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on March 25 ruled against the music industry’s effort to punish internet service providers that allow users to illegally copy and share content.

The justices said a lower court erred when it found Cox Communications liable for steep damages after it continued to provide internet service to customers who had been flagged repeatedly for piracy.

"Cox did not tailor its service to make copyright infringement easier," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the unanimous decision. "Cox simply provided Internet access, which is used for many purposes other than copyright infringement."

Cox argued the standard used by the lower court would leave providers no choice but to cut off internet access to large account holders such as universities, hospitals and even entire towns to avoid massive judgements.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/25/supreme-court-music-piracy-case-ruling/87828936007/

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Link to RULING (PDF) - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-171_bq7d.pdf

Unanimous ruling.

(I know a lot of SCOTUSBlog followers were waiting for this)

[msongs]

1. will it rule the same regarding porn...hmm

[BumRushDaShow]

2. They probably would

If you use an analogy of trying to sue a state for allowing access of their highways to drunk drivers who cause fatal accidents while traversing it.

I.e., you go after the drivers, not the highway owners.

The SCOTUS recently upheld state laws that went after porn companies related to the lack of a robust "age-verification" process - Court allows Texas’ law on age-verification for pornography sites

[ToxMarz]

3. God I hate it when I agree with Clarence Thomas and support Cox on anything.

[Bengus81]

4. As much as that crap COX HSI is down that probably saved 10 trillion songs

from being illegally downloaded.