Major Music Labels—Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have come together to file a lawsuit against Verizon over copyright infringement. The lawsuit alleges that Verizon ignores its customer’s copyright infringements for profit. The alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act contain 17,335 tracks that the labels seek as much as $150,000 USD per violation, equating to $2.6 billion USD.
The record labels allege that they sent Verizon over 350,000 infringement notices since 2020 which were ignored. They also claim thousands of Verizon subscribers would receive 20 or more infringement notices without repercussions.
The lawsuit states “Infringing subscribers were drawn to Verizon’s services both because of its lax policies concerning copyright infringement and faster internet speeds that facilitated the use of P2P protocols for those willing to pay more. Verizon fostered a safe haven for infringement in light of its lax policies and thus encouraged its subscribers to infringe.”
The labels add, “Instead of taking action in response to those infringement notices as the law requires, Verizon ignored Plaintiffs’ notices and buried its head in the sand.”
Verizon is charged with both contributory and vicarious copyright infringement and seeks the maximum penalty for every listed violation in addition to attorney’s fees.
