Supreme Court Inscrutable In Aereo Copyright Case Hearing

Supreme Court observers said that in today’s questioning, in a case pitting Internet streaming firm Aereo against some of the country’s biggest broadcasters, the justices gave no clear indication of how they are leaning. The Court appeared to feel uneasy about the business model for startup Aereo, which takes free over-the-air broadcasts from networks and makes them available to its subscribers on internet-connected devices, including phones, without compensating broadcasters, according to the Wall Street Journal. But they worried about what ruling against the company could mean for cloud-based computing services, like Apple. Questions about the cloud took up nearly as much time as the copyright issue. Justice Breyer said arguments from ABD, Comcast, NBC and CBS – who say Aereo is manipulating existing law to work around copyright – make him “nervous.”

Chief Justice Roberts appeared to respond to the broadcasters’ argument, though he also noted that Aereo’s service was somewhat akin to having consumers buy an antenna and a digital video recorder to make their own copies of local broadcasts. Justice Ginsburg, reputed to be one of the judges most vocal about copyright issues, told Aereo representatives: “You are the only player so far that pays no royalties whatsoever,” according to Deadline.

Executives at Fox and CBS have gone so far as to say if Aereo’s business was deemed legal, they would take their networks off air, turning them into exclusive cable channels. The NFL and MLB have both threatened to leave major networks if Aereo opens the channel for internet streaming, and move to paid channels like ESPN.