Aereo wants the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to its earlier legal victory that could settle once and for all whether Aereo's service is legal. The company hopes to engage in the issue to avoid the expense of further lawsuits.
Broadcasters asked the high court to step in earlier this year after the Second Circuit Appeals Court affirmed a district court's decision to let Aereo operate during a trial over whether it violates copyright law. Aereo has argued that its service is legal under a precedent established by the Second Circuit in a decision involving Cablevision's remote-storage DVRs.
"The broadcasters' filing makes clear that they are using Aereo as a proxy to attack" the Cablevision decision, Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia said in a statement explaining why Aereo isn't opposing the broadcasters' petition.
The broadcasters "have signaled their intention to wage a war of attrition by re-litigating this issue in every market to which Aereo expands its business," Aereo argued in the brief filed with the Supreme Court. The company said the court should grant review "to affirm the decision."
Aereo also urged the court to take up the case solely on the record established in its own litigation--not in the record that has been developed in lawsuits against Alki David's FilmOn X. "Were that case to come before this Court, it would not provide an appropriate vehicle to resolve the important public performance copyright issue," Aereo's lawyers argued in the brief.
For more:
- read the release
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