Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Effort to Hold ISPs Liable for Customers’ Copyright Infringement Based Solely on Failure to Terminate Users

The Court held that intent is required and that mere awareness of infringement does not establish secondary liability.

6 minute read April 01, 2026 at 12:15 AM

Benjamin West Janke , Ashley E. White , Jeremy D. Ray and Scott Johnson

Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Effort to Hold ISPs Liable for Customers’ Copyright Infringement Based Solely on Failure to Terminate Users

For the first time in decades, the nation’s high court, in Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, addressed the contours of secondary liability for copyright infringement – a hot-button issue for internet service providers (ISPs), social media platforms, and generative artificial intelligence (GAI) tools.

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