Broadcasters won a battle Thursday against streaming services that retransmit their copyrighted programs over the Internet.
A federal court in Washington DC ruled in favor of Fox Television Stations, ABC and NBC, granting them a nationwide preliminary injunction in their copyright infringement lawsuit against internet-based TV provider FilmOn X. The company’s free and pay subscription currently offers access to hundreds of live streaming TV channels and on-demand channels, including on mobile devices. Now, it looks as though it may be shut down.
FilmOn CEO Alki David said he believes his company will ultimately win the case in an appeal. For now, Fox and the other major networks have scored a win that they hope will have implications for all live streaming services they consider illegal, including Barry Diller’s Aereo.
“This decision should finally put the matter to rest, and will hopefully discourage other illegal services from attempting to steal our content,” a Fox representative told Deadline.
Read more at Deadline.
Brief Take: In receiving a preliminary injunction against FilmOn, Fox and the other major broadcasters could be on their way to a long-sought Supreme Court showdown over whether or not the retransmitting of over-the-air signals to digital devices is a violation of their public performance rights.
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