How we got here: In 2019, a court ruled against Cox and awarded Sony $1 billion in damages for the 10,017 songs at issue. An appeals court threw out the monetary award and ordered a new trial based on reduced violations. Cox turned to SCOTUS, arguing against the initial ruling that it had participated in “willful contributory infringement,” and saying a new trial could result in an even bigger penalty.
Don’t worry, SCOTUS isn’t expected to rule until the summer, so there’s still plenty of time to add malware illegal music to your laptop.—DL
