TorrentFreak X Asks Court to Dismiss Music Piracy Lawsuit After Supreme Court’s Cox Ruling

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In a complaint filed at a Nashville federal court in 2023, Universal Music, Sony Music, EMI and others, accused X Corp of ‘breeding’ mass copyright infringement.

The social media company allegedly failed to respond adequately to takedown notices and lacked a proper termination policy.

The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), for example, claimed it had sent over 300,000 formal infringement notices, many of which didn’t lead to immediate removals.

“Twitter routinely ignores known repeat infringers and known infringements, refusing to take simple steps that are available to Twitter to stop these specific instances of infringement of which it is aware,” the music companies alleged.

X Won the First Battle​

In 2024, X scored a partial win when the court dismissed the music publishers’ direct and vicarious copyright infringement claims, and partially dismissed claims of contributory infringement.

The court concluded that X can’t be held liable for making it ‘very easy’ to upload infringing material or for monetizing pirated content. Those characteristics are not exclusive to infringing material and apply to legitimate content.

While this was a partial win for X, most of the contributory infringement claim remained intact, and the lawsuit was allowed to move forward on those grounds.

Among other things, the music companies argued that X is liable because it willingly turned a blind eye to pirating users, especially those who have a blue checkmark. However, according to a new filing by X this week, new legal developments warrant a full dismissal now.

Cox Sets the New Standard​

Last Friday, X informed the Tennessee federal court about the Supreme Court decision in Cox v. Sony, which was decided in favor of the ISP last week. This ruling also concerns a ‘repeat infringer’ case, and it sets a clear standard for contributory copyright infringement.

Under the Supreme Court’s new standard, a service provider can only be held contributorily liable if it intended its service to be used for infringement. That intent can be shown in just two ways: the provider actively induced copyright infringement through specific acts, or the service has no substantial non-infringing uses. Nothing else qualifies.

X argues that the music publishers’ surviving claim fails both tests. Social media is clearly capable of substantial non-infringing uses, and the publishers never alleged that X took specific steps to actively encourage infringement.

The social media platform argues that, under the new Cox precedent, the contributory infringement claim fails as a matter of law and the entire case should be dismissed.

“F the DMCA”​

To stress that there is a high bar for these infringement claims, X directly references some of the most damning evidence in the Cox case, which was not enough to establish liability.

“Cox even expressed contempt for copyright law, writing emails with comments like ‘F the DMCA.’ Despite these facts, the Supreme Court had no trouble reversing the jury’s contributory-infringement verdict, because such facts were not ‘evidence of express promotion, marketing, and intent to promote infringement,” X notes in its filing.

The comparison is somewhat ironic, as Elon Musk himself once publicly described the DMCA as a “plague on humanity”, which the music publishers cited in their original complaint as evidence of a hostile attitude toward copyright.

While controversial, these statements don’t appear to matter for a contributory infringement claim, as they don’t actively induce copyright infringement. Therefore, X believes that the present case should be dismissed.

“If the Supreme Court had issued this opinion three years ago, X believes this Court would have dismissed Plaintiffs’ contributory-infringement claim in its entirety. Indeed, virtually every contributory-infringement case Plaintiffs cited in opposing X’s motion to dismiss – including the Fourth Circuit case on which this Court relied – is no longer good law,” X writes.

Millions at Stake​

X is not simply flagging the Supreme Court ruling for the record. The social media platform asks Judge Trauger for a status conference before both sides spend millions more on a case that may have already been rendered pointless.

There are various motions pending while the case is heading to summary judgment, and X asks the court to reconsider whether the new Cox precedent warrants a more streamlined process.

“If the Court would prefer to address these issues at summary judgment, X is prepared to do so. But both sides are now poised to spend millions of dollars in fees and expert expenses in the coming months on issues that Cox makes irrelevant as a matter of law,” X writes.

X says that it plans to move for judgment on the pleadings, or alternatively, it will ask the court to reconsider its earlier motion to dismiss ruling in light of new legal reality. For now, X is proposing a hearing to find the most efficient path forward.

Whatever the court decides, the legal standoff between X and the music industry will be far from over. Earlier this year, Elon Musk’s company filed a landmark antitrust complaint against the NMPA, Sony, Universal, and other major music publishers, alleging that they “weaponized” the DMCA to force licensing deals.

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A copy of X’s notice, filed earlier this week at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, is available here (pdf).

Update: The music companies filed a response in court, agreeing to stay the matter temporarily, until the court decides how to move forward (pdf).


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