Broadcasters again sued Aereo, the online video company selling monthly subscriptions for online access to remote antennas and DVRs that record local TV-station signals. The most recent federal copyright lawsuit and request for an injunction were filed in a federal court in Utah.
The Utah case is the latest complaint broadcasters have brought against Aereo. The company was first sued in New York in 2012 before it began offering services in Manhattan. A federal judge in New York denied the broadcasters' request to block Aereo from introducing its service there. Broadcasters have since sued in federal courts in Boston and now Salt Lake City.
The latest lawsuit is a meritless attempt at "forum shopping," and Aereo hopes the courts will reject duplicative lawsuits, Aereo spokeswoman Virginia Lam told the Los Angeles Times.
The Utah suit was brought by stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Local TV and Fox. They argued that Aereo has violated copyright law by illegally retransmitting their stations' signals.
"It simply does not matter whether Aereo uses one big antennas or hundreds of tiny ones to receive local stations," the complaint said. "No amount of technological gimmickry by Aereo changes the fundamental principle of copyright law that those who wish to retransmit copyrighted broadcasts may do so only at the copyright owners' authority."
For more:
- the Los Angeles Times had this report
- GigaOM had this report
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