Sirius XM Backed into a Corner in Copyright Infringement Case

Like the old adage attributed to the tortoise-“slow and steady wins the race”-the Turtles scored another victory in their copyright infringement case against Sirius XM. Judge Gutierrez in California’s Central District, site of Sirius XM’s summary judgment loss in September, has denied certification for an interlocutory appeal of that loss.

The Court bifurcated discovery into liability and damages phases, which means that with the door essentially shut on liability in the immediate future, the parties must now move into the damages phase of the litigation and class certification. I wrote a post last month on the parameters of potential damages under California law in the case. Sirius intends to appeal the September decision to the Ninth Circuit, but movement on that appeal will not occur until well after the District Court case has been decided.

This follows another loss last week for Sirius XM in the New York branch of the litigation when Judge Colleen McMahon from the District Court in Manhattan denied its summary judgment motion as to liability under New York law. The company has until December 5th to dispute the remaining liability facts in the case, after which time it will be liable for copyright infringement.

By Ken Ratcliff (kids turtle race 1  Uploaded by Smooth_O) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons