Artists Fight Back Against Internet Piracy: Who Will Win?

Imagine you are a hit-making musician.   Then, imagine that you are excited about sharing your work, and making a living, when– poof–it all evaporates because somebody, somewhere on the internet, just ripped you off.  Well, that’s exactly what’s been happening to creative artists of all types, especially musicians, at an ever-accelerating speed since the dawn of the internet. And, because federal law shields digital platforms from getting sued for copyright infringement on the part of people who use their services; digital piracy continues to flourish. But copyright owners are just plain sick of it. They’re tired of letting other people steal their work, distribute it worldwide, and getting nothing in return. So, they fought back in a big way, suing Cox Communications for copyright infringement.  But, you may be wondering; why Cox Communications? After all, they are not a big online platform like YouTube, or Facebook, for example. They are an internet service provider. They don't actually host the copyrighted material. All they do, is pipe it into your home, office, hospital, or wherever. They are in fact, like a telephone line, transmitting information across the wire. They are simply the conduit, the pass-through, the man in the middle. At least; that’s their argument. But Sony Entertainment wasn’t having any of that. They argued that because they notified Cox about the copyrighted material flowing through their network, and Cox chose to transmit it anyway; they are liable, and a jury back in 2019 agreed to the tune of a billion dollars. The song isn’t over though, as part of that jury verdict was overturned on appeal, what is at stake is perhaps internet service providers having to cut off customer access, and at the whole complicated legal ball of wax wound up before the US Supreme Court this week.  So, who will win?   I asked CBS News Radio Legal Analyst, and Correspondent, Thane Rosenbaum: