The Long Island headquarters of Altice USA. Photo Credit: Kidfly182
A federal court has ordered Altice USA to turn over the identities of up to 100 subscribers accused of copyright infringement by Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME).
The presiding judge just recently signed off on that jointly proposed order, which is, of course, an unwelcome one for the affected Altice/Optimum customers.
Last time we checked in on the courtroom confrontation, although Altice had previously settled a separate-but-similar BMG infringement action, evidence was pointing to a protracted WMG dispute.
Perhaps most notably on that front, a discovery disagreement, pertaining in part to the transfer of materials from the BMG case, was slowing the legal battle. So was a venue-transfer push, the defendant ISP’s dismissal efforts, and an adjacent attempt to shrink the pile of nearly 11,000 allegedly infringed works from a damages perspective.
(The latter, concerning multiple recordings sharing the same copyright registration number as well as creations stemming from work-for-hire agreements, isn’t unique to this suit.)
Fast forward to late last month, when the plaintiffs and the internet company apparently reached something of a discovery breakthrough on a variety of points. 10 days thereafter, the involved parties hammered out a follow-up discovery compromise, which the judge then granted.
Under the newer of the agreements, Altice had until today to “make reasonable efforts” to inform 100 subscribers, all accused of repeat infringement, of plans to provide their names and contact details to the record-label plaintiffs.
In turn, said subscribers will have 30 days to object. Should that deadline pass without formal pushback, Altice must within two more days disclose each non-opposing customer’s “name, telephone number, address, and e-mail address,” the order spells out.
With a trial tentatively scheduled to take place in September 2025, it’ll be worth closely monitoring the Warner Music-Altice showdown from here.
Though evidence suggests it might be best to avoid a trial – see the humongous damages verdict that Cox Communications is still fighting – Altice in its 2024 earnings report underscored plans to continue “vigorously defending against the claims” from WMG.
Likewise vigorously defending, albeit against copyright claims submitted by all three majors this past summer, is Verizon. Most recently, the telecom giant in November 2024 doubled down on its dismissal calls – including by urging the presiding judge to “say that courts in other Circuits went astray in blessing the Labels’ theory” of contributory liability.