3 Count: Aereo Defeated

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1: Aereo Loses In Supreme Court, Deemed Illegal

First off today, Jordan Crook at TechCruch reports that TV streaming service Aereo has lost its case at the Supreme Court and has been ruled infringing by the highest court in the United States.

Aereo uses a series of tiny antennas, one per customer, to capture over-the-air broadcast television and either record it on DVRs or stream it to consumers in near-realtime. Broadcasters sued the company in multiple jurisdictions but were largely defeated with the most decisive blow coming from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of Aerea.

However, the Supreme Court took up the case and with a 6-3 judgment, overturned that decision saying that Aereo is functionally no different than a cable provider, which does transmit broadcaster signals to the public and is forced to pay retransmission fees. The ruling protects broadcasters’ estimated $3 billion per year in retransmission fees from cable providers and means they will not go through with their threats of ending or reducing free over-the-air television.

2: India Joins China, Russia, Switzerland On Piracy Watch List

Next up today, Alex Block at The Hollywood Reporter writes that the Special 301 Report has been released by the U.S. Trade Representative and that India is joining China, Russia and Switzerland on the piracy watch list.

In addition to the inclusion of India, several countries have been removed including Italy and the Philippines, that the USTR feels has improved their copyright situation and is doing more to battle infringement.

Despite keeping China on the list, the USTR did note improvements that prompted them to take the Chinese search engine Baidu and reseller Taobao offer the Notorious Market report.

3: Rosanne Cash to Testify Before Congress

Finally today, Joseph Hudak at Rolling Stone reports that The House Judiciary Committee will be continuing its series of hearings on copyright law today, this time focusing on music licensing and illegal downloading.

Expected to testify is Rosanne Cash, the eldest daughter to country legend Johnny Cash, who himself testified in 1997 in support of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. According to her prepared remarks, Cash says that her father’s remarks were from an “innocent time” and that piracy has morphed into “a multi-national juggernaut” that threatens all musicians.

Cash is there at the request of the American Music Association and will represent musicians, songwriters and other recording artists at the hearing.

Suggestions

That’s it for the three count today. We will be back tomorrow with three more copyright links. If you have a link that you want to suggest a link for the column or have any proposals to make it better. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. I hope to hear from you.

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