eBay Defeats Contributory Copyright Claim–Lee v. SBS

Lee is enforcing music copyrights against karaoke machine makers that allegedly include copyrighted songs. He sent numerous NOCIs to eBay targeting the machines. eBay apparently honored the NOCIs. However, Lee really wanted staydowns, which eBay did not do. Lee claims his NOCIs conferred sufficient knowledge of infringement to warrant the staydowns. In the wake of Cox v. Sony, Lee’s pro se lawsuit goes nowhere (plus the court warns Lee not to rely on generative AI without double-checking the outputs). Contributory Infringement Inducement to Infringe. The court says it’s not inducement when “Plaintiff merely alleges that Defendant knowingly allowed listings of infringing TJ Karaoke devices to remain active on its website despite having the ability to remove the listings….Nor has Plaintiff alleged facts giving rise to an inference that the ‘principal object’ of Defendant’s online marketplace is the sale of infringing products. [cite to Grokster]” Tailored to Infringement. The plaintiff…