Southern District of New York Judge Alison J. Nathan dismissed the plaintiffs’ unfair competition claim in a suit by TV broadcasters seeking to stop Aereo Inc. from streaming video in WNET et al. v. Aereo Inc. The court held that the federal Copyright Act’s express preemption provision bars unfair competition claims under state law. The broadcasters’ two copyright infringement claims against Aereo remain to be litigated.
Aereo’s service, currently limited to New York, enables customers for a $12 per month fee to watch broadcast programming on mobile devices or Internet-enabled televisions through the use of a small remote antenna connected to a digital video recorder. Aereo argues that its service merely enables access to signals already freely available to consumers. The broadcasters allege, however, that Aereo’s retransmitting their programming violates the Copyright Act and entitles them to damages and attorneys’ fees as well as an injunction.