This is The Legal Beat, a weekly music law newsletter from Billboard Pro, bringing you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, landmark decisions and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: A federal appeals court overturns a $1 billion verdict won by major companies over Internet piracy. Kanye West slams Adidas for selling 'fake Yeezys' while 'suing' him. Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler wins dismissal of one of his sexual assault cases. and many more.
THE BIG STORY: Billion Dollar Hacking Verdict Gone – For Now
A billion dollars – with a “B”. Back in 2019, that's the huge amount a federal jury ordered Cox Communications to pay to Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group after concluding that the ISP had turned a blind eye to violating its users.
Piracy is no longer the existential threat it once was to the music industry. But in the mid-2010s, it was still a big deal—so much so that music companies started suing ISPs to force them to take action. In 2018, the Big Three filed such a case against Cox, alleging that she had effectively helped her subscribers illegally share more than 10,000 of their copyrighted songs.
ISPs are usually protected from lawsuits for infringing their users' conduct thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the system of so-called safe harbors. But the judge overseeing the case ruled that Cox had forfeited DMCA protections by failing to terminate subscribers who repeatedly pirated music. With immunity removed, Cox was ordered to pay record companies more than $99,000 for each song her users infringed — one of the largest awards ever made in a copyright lawsuit.
Cox appealed the case, arguing it was “unprecedented in every way” and would require ISPs to cut off vital Internet access based on unproven hacking allegations. The labels said it was a fair punishment for a company that had allegedly avoided the issue for fear of losing money.
After more than four years of waiting for a decision (so long that file sharing has become a thing of the past) a federal appeals court finally stood down this week — overturning the massive verdict, but still leaving Cox facing the possibility of massive damages. Read the full story to learn more.
Other top stories this week…
ADIDAS SUE YOU? – Kanye West took to Instagram to blast Adidas for 'suing' him at the same time it was selling 'fake Yeezys' to consumers: 'Not only are they putting out fake colors that are not approved, they're putting me out for $250 million.' So is Adidas really suing him? The answer is… complicated.
MORE DIDDY POWERS – Sean Combs has been hit with another abuse lawsuit, this time from a producer named Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones Jr., who says the rapper sexually assaulted and harassed him. But the case also includes more outlandish allegations, alleging that Diddy and others were involved in a “RICO operation” — civil charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law most often used in criminal cases against mobsters and cartels drugs. said Combs' attorney Shawn Holley Advertising sign that the claims were “pure fiction” filed by a man “shamelessly looking for an unfair payday.”
…AND NEW ANSWER – Days earlier, Combs also filed his first legal response to one of his previous abuse cases, in which a woman claims he “sexually trafficked” and “gang-raped” her when she was 17 in 2003. the filing, Combs told a federal court that the allegations are “fictitious.” Among other things, Didi's lawyers said the case was filed so late that it violated his constitutional right to defend himself.
Trial of the STOLEN NOTES OF THE EAGLES – Don Henley took the stand in an ongoing criminal trial of three memorabilia sellers who prosecutors allege tried to sell stolen lyrics to “Hotel California” and other Eagles hits. The defendants claim Henley willingly gave the pages to a reporter decades ago, meaning they were never stolen. But in his deposition, the rock legend said he only gave the author access, not ownership: “You know what? It doesn't matter if I drove a U-Haul truck across the country and dropped them off at his front door. He had no right to keep or sell them.”
STEVEN TYLER RULING – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in 1975, ruling that he waited too long to bring her case. Jeanne Bellino sued the rocker in November under New York's “look-back” law that allows abuse victims to sue decades-old claims. But the judge ruled that her allegations – forcible kissing and groping – were not covered by the law because they did not present a “serious risk of bodily harm”.
NICKELBACK CASE DISMISSED – A federal appeals court threw out a copyright lawsuit that claimed Nickelback cut their 2006 hit “Rockstar” from an earlier song called “Rock Star,” ruling that the band can't be sued simply for using “clichés” and ” he sang about being a rock star.”
THE IDOL MANUFACTURER IS SUED AGAIN – Ex American Idol Producer Nigel Lythgoe has been hit with another sexual assault lawsuit, this time from an unidentified woman who claims he sexually assaulted her in 2016. Lythgoe was already facing a previous lawsuit from Paula Abdul over two separate alleged incidents of sexual assault.
