James Aquilina Insight Included in Westlaw Today Article About Supreme Court Case on Copyright Infringement
James Aquilina, Washington office chair of the Quarles & Brady Intellectual Property Practice Group, was quoted in a Westlaw Today article about a copyright infringement case being deliberated by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Oral arguments were heard by the court December 1 in Cox Communications Inc. et al v. Sony Music Entertainment et al, a case to determine if internet service providers (ISP) can be held liable for copyright infringement by their customers, if the ISP fails to shut down customer accounts after being notified of the infringement.
Aquilina noted the complexities of the case, questioning the argument by Cox attorneys that the company does what it should as a “good corporate citizen” but also recognizing the difficulty of putting full copyright enforcement burden on ISPs.
An excerpt:
James Aquilina, a Quarles & Brady LLP attorney who was not involved in the dispute, cast doubt on Cox's "good corporate citizen" claim, saying, "History shows that without real legal obligations, some ISPs simply won't act."
"Still, the court can respect the practical realities of internet access by adopting a balanced rule that requires real action against piracy without turning ISPs into uncompromising enforcers who risk penalizing legitimate users," he said.