Supreme Court Vacates Copyright Decision Against Astound Subsidiary
The Fifth Circuit had affirmed a $46 million penalty against Grande Communications.
WASHINGTON, April 7, 2026 – The Fifth Circuit has to reconsider its decision to uphold a $46 million penalty against a Texas broadband provider for copyright infringement, the Supreme Court said Monday.
“The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for further consideration in light of” the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Cox v. Sony Music Entertainment, the Supreme Court wrote in a brief Monday order.
In the Cox case, decided March 25, justices ruled 9-0 that Cox could not be liable for copyright infringement by continuing to provide internet access after subscribers repeatedly infringed. The decision said an ISP would have to affirmatively intend for a user to pirate copyrighted material to be liable, and even knowledge that a prospective customer would use their connection to infringe repeatedly wouldn’t clear that bar.
Under that logic, the court tossed the Fifth Circuit’s 2023 decision upholding a $46 million penalty against Grande Communications, a subsidiary of Astound Broadband. The Texas ISP was sued by several music labels, led by UMG and including Sony, for not taking repeat infringers offline.
While all justices agreed Cox should be off the hook, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a concurrence that the majority’s reasoning would make it effectively impossible for an ISP to ever be liable to copyright infringement, as they have no incentive to promote infringement and are unlikely to do so.
“The majority’s decision thus permits ISPs to sell an internet connection to every single infringer who wants one without fear of liability and without lifting a finger to prevent infringement,” she wrote. “It also means that Cox is free to abandon its current policy of responding to copyright infringement.”
The majority opinion was led by Justice Clarence Thomas.
Verizon is facing a $2 billion copyright lawsuit, also led by UMG, but the case has been paused since July 2025 while the court waited for the Cox case to resolve. Optimum, formerly Altice USA, is also fighting a copyright suit that was paused pending the Cox decision.
Frontier, since acquired by Verizon, settled a similar copyright case last year, and Altice settled one in 2024.
Member discussion