Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v. Telewizja Polska, S.A.

883 F.3d 904 (2018)

From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v. Telewizja Polska, S.A.

United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
883 F.3d 904 (2018)

  • Written by Liz Nakamura, JD

Facts

Telewizja Polska, S.A. (TV Polska) (plaintiff), a Polish broadcasting company, entered a licensing agreement with Spanski Enterprises, Inc. (defendant), a Canadian broadcasting company, granting Spanski the exclusive right to broadcast certain of TV Polska’s television programs in North and South America. The licensing agreement included internet broadcasts. Spanski then acquired valid United States copyright registrations for the television programs subject to the licensing agreement. TV Polska had an online video-on-demand system that allowed internet users to view TV Polska content. TV Polska placed territorial restrictions, called geoblocks, on its video-on-demand system to prevent users in North and South America from accessing content licensed to Spanski. However, several years later, Spanski discovered that 51 episodes subject to the licensing agreement had been reformatted to remove the geoblocking and were accessible to users in the United States through TV Polska’s video-on-demand service. Spanski sued TV Polska in United States federal district court, alleging infringement of its exclusive right to publicly perform, or publicly broadcast, those 51 episodes in the United States. After a bench trial, the district court held TV Polska liable under the Copyright Act for willfully infringing on Spanski’s exclusive public-performance rights by removing the geoblocking on the 51 episodes and making them available to American viewers. TV Polska appealed, arguing that (1) holding it liable for infringement was an impermissible extraterritorial application of the Copyright Act because the videos were hosted and reformatted in Poland; and (2) any infringement liability should be assigned to the American users who accessed the videos in the United States.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Tatel, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 815,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership