American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc.
United States Supreme Court
573 U.S. 431, 134 S. Ct. 2498 (2014)
- Written by Jamie Milne, JD
Facts
Aereo, Inc. (defendant) was an internet-based television subscription service. Aereo charged a subscription fee and allowed users to stream live-broadcast television shows. Aereo’s system consisted of antennas, servers, and other equipment. When a subscriber indicated which television show he or she wanted to watch, an antenna was assigned to the subscriber’s request, and a server tuned it to the relevant broadcast. A transcoder converted the broadcast signal into data that was then stored on Aereo’s hard drive in a folder assigned to the subscriber. Once a few seconds of the broadcast had been saved, the show started to stream to the subscriber, continuing until the show finished. If more than one subscriber requested a particular broadcast, separate antennas were used, and separate copies created, saved, and streamed. Aereo neither owned nor held licenses for the streamed content. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., and other content owners (collectively, the content owners) (plaintiffs) sued Aereo for copyright infringement. They sought a preliminary injunction preventing Aereo’s alleged infringement while the trial was pending. The district court denied the request, and the court of appeals affirmed. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Breyer, J.)
Dissent (Scalia, J.)
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