Amicus Brief Filed in Fox Television Stations, Inc. v Aereo Killer LLC
15-56420
CEI and the International Center for Law and Economics filed an amicus brief urging the Ninth Circuit to reverse a district court decision holding that Internet-based retransmission services are eligible for a compulsory copyright license.
We argue that the law requires such services to obtain permission from copyright owners before retransmitting broadcast television over the Internet. Resellers of television programming cannot avoid paying market rates for content through a supposed "loophole" in the law, given that Congress made clear in the Copyright Act and the Communications Act that retransmitting broadcast television requires authorization from either the broadcaster or the copyright owner.