Bright House, Music Labels Seek Summary Judgments in Copyright Suit

Years of discovery turned up no evidence Bright House Networks' objective in providing internet service to subscribers allegedly involved in online piracy was to cause copyright infringement, the Charter Communications subsidiary told the U.S. District Court in Tampa Wednesday in a docket 8:19-cv-710 motion to dismiss. Numerous music labels are suing Bright House (see 2108120002). It said it's also entitled to summary judgment on many of the alleged infringements since close to half of the notices were mistakenly sent to email addresses it doesn't maintain. "Bright House could not have had knowledge of alleged infringements identified in notices it did not receive," the ISP said. Bright House "received millions of infringement notices from copyright owners, but literally threw away the vast majority without even looking at them," the labels said in a motion for partial summary judgment seeking a finding that they had established the knowledge and material contribution elements necessary to hold it liable for contributory infringement. That would leave for trial proving that Bright House's subscribers distributed or reproduced the infringing files, which will establish direct infringement, the plaintiffs said.