Re:U.S. judge says Internet streaming service should be trea...
by ubernostrum on Friday July 17, 2015 @09:33AM
(#9902615)
The Supreme Court case involving Aereo was not a wrong or bad or corrupt ruling.
The historical roots here are the community-access television (CATV) systems of the 1970s. CATV systems were legal at that time, and the Court acknowledged similarities between what Aereo did and what CATV did. But the Court was stuck with the fact that Congress had explicitly amended the Copyright Act to say that a CATV-style system was considered to "perform" the copyrighted programs it passed on to viewers. Which in turn left the Court without much choice as to whether Aereo was "performing" the programs viewed by its customers.
The historical roots here are the community-access television (CATV) systems of the 1970s. CATV systems were legal at that time, and the Court acknowledged similarities between what Aereo did and what CATV did. But the Court was stuck with the fact that Congress had explicitly amended the Copyright Act to say that a CATV-style system was considered to "perform" the copyrighted programs it passed on to viewers. Which in turn left the Court without much choice as to whether Aereo was "performing" the programs viewed by its customers.