<http://isoc.live/>*FILING <https://www.internetsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/ISOC-Amicus-Brief-Cox-v.-Sony.pdf> *(ISOC) | *SUMMARY + RESOURCES <https://www.patreon.com/posts/internet-society-138649068?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link>* (Patreon) *ARCHIVE <https://archive.org/details/isoc-amicus-cox-v-sony> *| *PERMALINK <https://isoc.live/19674>* In the case of Cox v. Sony, in 2019, a Virginia jury awarded roughly $1 billion in statutory damages to a group of record labels, led by Sony, ruling that Cox had ‘secondary liability’ for copyright infringement by its users. In 2024, the Fourth Circuit validated that decision, but vacated the award and ordered a new damages trial. Cox successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to review the decision, asking whether an Internet service provider can be held secondarily liable for subscribers’ alleged copyright infringement—based largely on infringement notices and “repeat infringer” accusations—simply for continuing to provide access, and what legal standard should govern that liability. In September 2025 the Internet Society (ISOC) filed an Amicus Brief in the case, urging the Supreme Court to reverse the Fourth Circuit’s secondary-liability rule, arguing it would force ISPs to police users and terminate whole accounts on mere allegations of copyright infringement. The brief warns this would disconnect innocent people from essential connectivity, undermine the Internet’s layered, multi-intermediary architecture, and incentivize privacy-eroding surveillance, while rights holders can instead sue account owners directly. -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -