AEREO FILES SUPREME COURT BRIEF, FIGHTING FOR ITS LIFE

In a 100-page brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, Aereo argued that it should be permitted to continue to operate its system in which tiny antennas capture the broadcast signals of over-the-air TV stations and relay them to subscribers via the Internet. The broadcast networks, the brief said, “object that Aereo is a sort of Rube Goldberg device — a clever way to take advantage of existing laws. … But designing technologies to comply with the copyright laws is precisely what companies should do.” The broadcasters contend, however, that Aereo is doing precisely what cable systems do — retransmitting their signals, but unlike the cable systems, Aereo is not paying them for the retransmissions. But in its brief, Aereo argues that the broadcasters “have no right to royalties at all for retransmissions of their content within the original broadcast market. … This Court should not rewrite the Copyright Act in an effort to protect petitioners from lawful and logical advancements in technology or from the economic consequences of their transmitting works for free over the public airwaves.” The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on April 22.