US internet company Altice, which operates the Optimum internet and cable TV service, has been sued by the Warner Music and Sony Music for not doing enough to deal with repeat copyright infringers among its customer base.
"Plaintiffs bring this action for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement against Altice", says the new lawsuit, "a company that has knowingly contributed to, and reaped substantial profits from, massive copyright infringement committed by thousands of its subscribers".
"Despite receiving tens of thousands of notices from plaintiffs that detailed the illegal activity of its subscribers", it goes on, "and despite its clear legal obligation to address the widespread, illegal downloading of copyrighted works on its internet service, Altice enabled its subscribers to continue infringing plaintiffs’ copyrights with impunity through the continued provision of its high-speed internet service to known repeat infringers".
This is all very familiar of course. The record industry has sued a number of US internet service providers for not doing enough to deal with repeat infringers.
The argument goes that, by failing to deal with those repeat infringers, ISPs do not qualify for safe harbour protection under US copyright law. Which means they can be held liable for their users' infringement. And that argument has worked in court against both Cox Communications and Grande Communications.
Among the ISPs already sued in this domain is, well, Altice. It was sued a year ago by Universal Music, BMG and Concord. The new lawsuit basically sees Sony Music and Warner Music join the party.