Major music labels have filed a lawsuit against Verizon, seeking damages exceeding $2.6 billion. The lawsuit, lodged in federal court, accuses the telecom giant of enabling widespread piracy through its network, allegedly turning a blind eye to illegal downloads of copyrighted music.
The lawsuit includes a list of 17,335 tracks from artists or bands, including Elvis Presley, Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, and Brandy. The labels say they’ve sent “nearly 350,000 infringement notices” to Verizon since 2020, alleging that the company ignored people repeatedly cited for illegally sharing files because they pay more for faster, better internet service.
Verizon’s failure to take meaningful action against its infringing subscribers drew subscribers engaging in Internet piracy to purchase Verizon’s services, so that those subscribers could infringe Plaintiffs’ (and others’) copyrights and avoid obtaining that copyrighted content through legitimate channels. Infringing subscribers were drawn to Verizon’s services both because of its lax policies concerning copyright infringement and faster internet speeds that facilitated the use of P2P protocols for those willing to pay more. Verizon fostered a safe haven for infringement in light of its lax policies and thus encouraged its subscribers to infringe. The specific infringing subscribers identified in Plaintiffs’ notices, including the particularly egregious infringers identified above, knew that Verizon would not terminate their accounts despite receiving multiple notices identifying them as infringers, and they remained Verizon subscribers so that they could continue illegally downloading copyrighted works.
