Charter Countersues Music Labels in Online Piracy Row

Asserting it "does not control the Internet," Charter Communications asked a U.S. District Court in Denver for a declaratory judgment in litigation brought by music labels (see 1903250004) that the cable ISP isn't liable for contributory copyright infringement of the plaintiffs' works at issue. In an amended complaint partial answer and counterclaim (in Pacer, docket 19-cv-00874) Wednesday, Charter also asked for unspecified damages for such costs as the damaged goodwill and reputational harm from processing inaccurate notices about supposed music piracy by its subscribers and the cost of implementing its Charter Abuse Tracking System to partially automate the handling of abuse notifications that it receives. In a series of affirmative defenses, Charter said any infringement wasn't willful and it didn't cause, encourage or induce the alleged primary infringement. Counsel for the music label plaintiffs didn't comment Thursday.