Several major record labels filed a lawsuit against RCN. RCN is a high-speed internet service in the United States of America.
The major record labels are filing is on the basis that they have not done enough to fight against piracy. As well as this these music labels are seeking to hold them internet provider accountable for providing repeat offenders with a safe haven for copyright infringement.
The allegation hinges on RCN’s knowledge of the widescale infringement and their inactivity by not stopping repeat offenders from illegally downloading music and by permitting them with continual use the network.
RCN provides users with high internet speeds. Depending on the package that RCN users have purchased they then can access BitTorrent networks which allows their users to do massive scale infringement using these BitTorrent networks. The record labels are claiming that RCN promotes the high speed and unlimited access to a wealth of sources, with the knowledge that many of their subscribes use the network for illegal activities.
A company called Rightscorp sent RCN with millions of notices informing them of specific identities of infringing users and notified the company over five million times notifying them of tens of thousands of repeat infringers using their network. This was done as a means to make the company aware that users are infringing artists copyright protected material. 36,773 of their customers are repeat offenders. These reports included IP addresses and the port number of the host computer and detailed the exact nature of said infringements.
The major labels are claiming that the defendants have been provided with sufficient evidence that users have been infringing copyright of music labels and have taken no meaningful action to discourage the wrongful conduct. Going on to further allege that they were complicit as they didn’t ban repeat infringers because they generate high profits for the company. Instead the customers received benefits in the form of granting them greater bandwidth.
RCN sought to dismiss the case on the grounds that the labels have not proven any direct infringements on its networks and that Rightscorp cannot be trusted. But this failed as a result of the labels proving that some ISPs have deliberately poor systems for dealing with infringement and infringers on their networks and should be prevented of their safe harbour. This resulted in the New Jersey federal court dismissed the motion to dismiss the case.
Written by Owen White LLB(Hons) Graduate
