Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment · ¶1
Under the Copyright Act, “[a]nyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner . . . is an infringer of the copyright.” 17 U. S. C. § 501(a). This Court has also recognized two categories of secondary liability, which means liability for the copyright infringement of another. Those two categories are “contributory” liability and “vicarious” liability. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., 545 U. S. 913, 930. This case concerns contributory liability, which requires that a provider intended its service to be used for infringement. A copyright owner can show the requisite intent in two ways. First, it can show that a party affrmatively induced the infringement. Ibid. Second, it can show that the party sold a service tailored to infringement. Id., at 942 (Ginsburg, J., concurring). These two bases for contributory liability track patent law. See 35 U. S.…Read in context ›
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