By Blake Brittain

WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Monday in a bid by Cox Communications to avoid financial liability in a major music copyright lawsuit by record labels that accused the internet service provider of enabling its customers to pirate thousands of songs.

Cox has appealed a lower court’s decision to order a new trial to determine how much the Atlanta-based company owes Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group and other labels for contributory copyright infringement. Cox said the retrial could lead to a verdict against it of as much as $1.5 billion.

Cox, the largest unit of privately owned Cox Enterprises, has argued it should not be held responsible for piracy by its users of music owned by the labels in a case be

See Full Page