Grande Found Liable for $46.77M in Damages for Willful Infringement

A jury in U.S. District Court for Western Texas in Austin awarded $46.77 million in statutory damages Thursday to several record labels for the willful contributory infringement by internet service provider Grande Communications Networks of 1,403 copyrighted works, a verdict form shows (docket l:17-cv-00365). The labels sued Grande in April 2017, alleging its internet customers had engaged in more than 1 million infringements of copyrighted works over BitTorrent systems, including tens of thousands of “blatant infringements by repeat infringers.” The lawsuit alleged Grande turned a blind eye to the wrongdoing, refusing to take “any meaningful action to discourage this continuing theft, let alone suspend or terminate subscribers who repeatedly commit copyright infringement through its network.” Grande didn’t respond Friday to requests for comment.