SCOTUS to review billion-dollar copyright case

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The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. Today the U.S. Supreme Court will review a closely-watched copyright dispute. Plus, a federal judge will hold a hearing in a lawsuit over an immigration lawyer's seized phone; Luigi Mangione is due in court; and military law experts say President Trump's case against Senator Mark Kelly faces steep hurdles. If scientists can solve a 3.4 million year old mystery about a foot then we can make it through this Mondayiest of Mondays. Let's dive in.

U.S. Supreme Court to hear copyright dispute between Cox and record labels

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Today the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a closely-watched copyright dispute between Cox Communications and a group of music labels. Here's what to know:

Cox has appealed a lower court's decision to order a new trial to determine how much the Atlanta-based company owes Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and other labels for contributory copyright infringement.
Cox said a retrial could lead to a verdict against it of as much as $1.5 billion and argued in its SCOTUS petition that a ruling in favor of the labels could force it to cut off internet access for "entire households, coffee shops, hospitals, universities" and others "merely because some unidentified person was previously alleged to have used the connection to infringe." Read that filing here.
A jury in Alexandria, Virginia, found in 2019 that Cox owed the labels $1 billion for its secondary liability for the copyright infringement by its customers of more than 10,000 copyrights. The 4th Circuit threw out the damages award in 2024 after reversing the jury's finding on one form of secondary liability. Read the 4th Circuit opinion here.
The case is being closely watched by internet service providers, which are generally not liable for user infringement if they take reasonable measures to prevent it. But the labels accused Cox of failing to address thousands of infringement notices and failing to cut off internet access for repeat infringers or take other measures to deter piracy.
Blake Brittain has more here.

Coming up today

The U.S. Supreme Court will also hear arguments in a case about how much deference courts should give the Board of Immigration Appeals when reviewing decisions to deny a refugee asylum.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in D.C. will hold a status conference in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's termination of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians after the Department of Homeland Security on November 26 announced that TPS for Haitians will be terminated on February 3, 2026.
U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston will hold a hearing in a lawsuit seeking to force the Trump administration to destroy data it gathered by seizing a local immigration attorney's cell phone after he arrived at Logan International Airport following a trip.
The D.C. Circuit will hear arguments in a case involving Uber that centers on whether a person can be bound to a company's terms of service that someone else accepted. In this case, a man was permanently injured in a crash while in an Uber that his wife ordered for him in her app. Uber is attempting to move the case to arbitration based on the terms his wife accepted. Read the appeal.
The U.S. Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of David Bragdon to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Luigi Mangione is due in court in New York for a conference ahead of his trial on charges of murdering UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, is due to appear in U.S. court in Chicago.
Today, the first-ever Federal Rule of Civil Procedure specifically pertaining to how MDLs should proceed will go into effect. Rule 16.1 puts in place a formal framework for MDLs including vetting claims early in the process. Read more from our colleagues at Practical Law The Journal.
The annual meeting of the 125 member states to the International Criminal Court starts today as the court is facing U.S. sanctions and internal turmoil at the office of the prosecutor.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

More top news

Industry insight

Moves: Orrick added M&A partners Michael Prüssner and Benjamin Schikora from Norton Rose Fulbright … Andrés Chaves joined Troutman Pepper Locke's energy transactional practice from Hogan Lovells.
New partners: Weil elected 17 new partners.

470

Reuters documented at least that many targets of retribution under President Trump's leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by Trump and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government. Read the Reuters Special Report.

Attorney Analysis

Michelman & Robinson's Aaron Piesset and Marc Jacobs take a look at the escalation in CIPA lawsuits as businesses and marketers scramble to mitigate risk. Read today's Attorney Analysis.

Additional writing by Shruthi Krishnamurthy.

Contact

Caitlin Tremblay

caitlin.tremblay@thomsonreuters.com

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