Court To Hear Oral Argument Feb. 26 in BMG/Cox BitTorrent Piracy Fight

A Virginia federal judge will hear oral argument Feb. 26 on motions by BMG Rights Management and Cox Communications, including a motion by the cable operator for a new trial in the copyright infringement complaints brought by BMG. Both Cox and BMG filed motions and briefs Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. BMG renewed a previous motion for judgment as a matter of law for vicarious infringement and also seeking a permanent injunction. A jury in December awarded BMG and Round Hill Music $25 million in their lawsuit against Cox for the cable company's failure to penalize its Internet customers who repeatedly infringed copyrighted materials via BitTorrent (see 1512180012). More than a month later, BMG said in a brief in support of its permanent injunction motion, "Cox's network continues to be the site of a massive, ongoing infringement of BMG's copyrights." The cable ISP in its motion for judgment as a matter of law or, alternately, a new trial, said BMG failed to prove Cox's liability and that the court erred in jury instructions on such issues as contributory infringement and willfulness and that it didn't instruct the jury on innocent infringement. "Any one of the errors ... would justify a new trial," it said in its motion. "Taken together, however, they create a compelling basis for a new trial." Cox also filed a motion seeking an order sealing some exhibits it previously had submitted, citing their containing of confidential business information.