Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment · ¶41

The Fourth Circuit found otherwise based only on its Circuit precedent establishing a new form of contributory liability. The court did not suggest that Cox induced its users to infringe. 93 F. 4th, at 235, n. 4. And, it did not deny that Cox's service was “capable of substantial lawful use and not designed to promote infringement.” Id., at 236. Rather, the court held that “supplying a product with knowledge that the recipient will use it to infringe copyrights is . . . sufficient for contributory infringement.” Ibid.; see also BMG, 881 F. 3d, at 311–312. The Fourth Circuit's holding thus went beyond the two forms of liability recognized in Grokster and Sony. It also conficted with this Court's repeated admonition that contributory liability cannot rest only on a provider's knowledge of infringement and insufficient action to prevent it. See Kalem Co., 222 U. S., at 62; Sony, 464 U. S.,…

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