US District judge grants labels motion to dismiss in their case against RCN

 By Emmanuel Legrand

US District Judge Michael Shipp from New Jersey has granted a motion to dismiss to record labels and to piracy tracking company Rightscorp in their legal battle against ISP RCN.

  RCN was sued by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, among other labels, and was accused of facilitating "widespread copyright infringement." 

  In response, RCN filed a countersuit accusing labels and Rightscorp of sending fraudulent DMCA notices and violating California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL) by sending "millions of unsupported emails accusing RCN's customers of bitTorrent-based copyright infringement." 

No qualifying injury

  Judge Shipp said that RCN failed to demonstrate that it created its DMCA System to tackle unlicensed content simply for cases presented by Rightscorp, nor did it convince the judge that it incurred specific costs due to the filing by Rightscorp of DMCA notification. 

  The judge ruled that “without facts showing that RCN suffered a qualifying injury in fact, the Court finds RCN has not established standing under the UCL. Accordingly, Counterclaim Defendants’ Motions to Dismiss RCN’s Counterclaim are granted." 

  Noted TorrentFreak: "Judge Shipp doesn’t refute that Rightscorp may have sent problematic notices but the Court doesn’t see how RCN was injured as a direct result of the alleged fraud."