All in Copyright

Broadcasters File Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Online Streaming Service Locast

A group of U.S. broadcast television networks have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Locast, a free online streaming service offering local, over-the-air television. The broadcasters claim Locast is infringing their exclusive rights to perform copyrighted works publicly. Locast’s service operates under a belief that its unauthorized retransmission of copyrighted content is not an infringement because Locast is covered by an exemption provided to nonprofit organizations under the Copyright Act.

Death Blow: Texas Court Strips ISP Grande Communications Of DMCA Safe Harbor Defense

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas has ruled that Texas-based Internet service provider Grande Communications Networks, LLC may not use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbor as part of its defense against a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by a group of record labels. The case is now set to move to trial, where the record companies are seeking to hold Grande secondarily liable for over one million instances of direct copyright infringement by Grande broadband subscribers.

Update on UMG v. Grande Communications: UMG’s Files Summary Judgment Motion To Strip Grande of DMCA Safe Harbor Defense

In 2017, some of the largest record companies in the U.S. filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Grande Communications Networks, LLC, a Texas-based Internet service provider, alleging Grande broadband subscribers repeatedly infringed copyrighted works by reproducing and distributing them using BitTorrent. The record companies claim Grande is secondarily liable for these infringements because Grande does not follow its DMCA policy by terminating subscribers who are repeat infringers. The record companies have moved for summary judgment, seeking to strip Grande of its Section 512 DMCA safe harbor from secondary copyright infringement liability.

Texas Court Rejects ISP’s Attempt to Dismiss Copyright Infringement Lawsuit – Grande Communications is Latest Broadband Provider Entangled in DMCA Litigation

A Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, has issued a report and recommendation that rules on two motions to dismiss in UMG Recordings, Inc., et al., v. Grande Communications Networks, LLC, and Patriot Media Consulting, LLC. The case concerns a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by a vast group of owners of copyrighted music against Grande Communications, an Internet service provider located in Texas. Grande’s consultant is also named as a defendant in the suit. The pleadings and the Magistrate’s report address many of the same Digital Millennium Copyright Act issues involved in the Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in BMG v. Cox Communications.