Verizon sued by record labels for allowing copyright theft (NYSE:VZ)

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) permitted “staggering” copyright infringement on its file-sharing network, record labels said Friday in a federal suit.

Universal Music Group (OTCPK:UMGNF) (OTCPK:UNVGY), Sony Music Entertainment (NYSE:SONY) and Warner Music (NASDAQ:WMG) were among the music publishers that claimed Verizon “contributed to and profited from pervasive copyright infringement by its subscribers” over a peer-to-peer file-sharing system, Bloomberg Law reported.

The peer-to-peer, or P2P, system BitTorrent lets users illegally download, copy and distribute copyrighted recordings, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.