Public Knowledge plans to file another brief supporting
Aereo TV in the lawsuitbrought by broadcasters against what Aereo says is providing remote -- via
Internet -- access to over-the-air TV antennas and broadcasters say is
retransmitting their signals and content without compensation.
Public Knowledge signaled that filing in an email to its supporters
Thursday.
"This Friday [Oct. 26], we're filing (another) 'friend
of the court' brief in the Aereo case. Using modern equipment to receive
broadcast TV is not against the law," the group said.
In a May filing
with the New York U.S. District Court hearing the challenge, Public
Knowledge and the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that Aereo's delivery
of TV station signals over the Internet is a private, one-to-one transmission,
not a public performance subject to exclusive copyright, similar to the remote
DVR functionality that a federal appeals court upheld in the Cartoon Network
vs. Cablevision case.
In that filing, Public Knowledge was opposing broadcasters'
request for a preliminary injunction to close down the service while the court
considered the suit.
The judge ultimately deniedthat injunction, agreeing with Public Knowledge that Aereo was essentially
analogous to Cablevision's remote DVR, which the Second Circuit court of
appeals concluded did not violate copyright protections.
