Wpix Inc. v. Ivi Inc., 10 Civ. 7415(NRB).

• Decision Date: 22 February 2011
• Docket Number: No. 10 Civ. 7415(NRB).,10 Civ. 7415(NRB).
• Citation: 52 Communications Reg. (P&F) 651,765 F.Supp.2d 594,98 U.S.P.Q.2d 1947
• Parties: WPIX, INC., WNET.org, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Disney Enterprises, Inc., CBS Broadcasting Inc, CBS Studios Inc., The CW Television Stations Inc., NBC Universal, Inc., NBC Studios, Inc., Universal Network Television, LLC, Telemundo Network Group LLC, NBC Telemundo License Company, Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB Advanced Media, L.P., Cox Media Group, Inc., Fisher Broadcasting–Seattle TV, L.L.C., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Television Stations, Inc., Tribune Television Holdings, Inc., Tribune Television Northwest, Inc., Univision Television Group, Inc., The Univision Network Limited Partnership, Telefutura Network, WGBJ Educational Foundation, Thirteen, and Public Broadcasting Service, Plaintiffs,v.IVI, INC. and Todd Weaver, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

765 F.Supp.2d 594

98 U.S.P.Q.2d 1947

52 Communications Reg. (P&F) 651

WPIX, INC., WNET.org, American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., Disney Enterprises, Inc., CBS Broadcasting Inc, CBS Studios Inc., The CW Television Stations Inc., NBC Universal, Inc., NBC Studios, Inc., Universal Network Television, LLC, Telemundo Network Group LLC, NBC Telemundo License Company, Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB Advanced Media, L.P., Cox Media Group, Inc., Fisher Broadcasting–Seattle TV, L.L.C., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Television Stations, Inc., Tribune Television Holdings, Inc., Tribune Television Northwest, Inc., Univision Television Group, Inc., The Univision Network Limited Partnership, Telefutura Network, WGBJ Educational Foundation, Thirteen, and Public Broadcasting Service, Plaintiffs,

v.IVI, INC. and Todd Weaver, Defendants.

No. 10 Civ. 7415(NRB).

United States District Court, S.D. New York.

Feb. 22, 2011.

Peter L. Zimroth, Arnold & Porter, LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs.Lawrence D. Graham, Black, Lowe & Graham PLLC, Seattle, WA, Gavin Ira Handwerker, Nissenbaum Law Group, LLC, Union, NJ, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NAOMI REICE BUCHWALD, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, major copyright owners in television programming, have moved to preliminarily enjoin defendants ivi, Inc. (“ivi,” with a lowercase “i”) and its chief executive officer, Todd Weaver (“Weaver”), from streaming plaintiffs' copyrighted television programming over the Internet without their consent. Since plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm should the injunction not be granted, a balance of hardships weighing in their favor, and that the public interest will not be disserved by an injunction, the motion is granted.

FACTS

Plaintiffs are leading producers and owners of copyrighted television programming, including (1) broadcast television networks (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, Telefutura, Telemundo, and Univision), (2) distributors of non-commercial education programming (PBS, WNET.ORG, and WGBH), (3) a major professional sports league (Major League Baseball), (4) top motion picture studios (Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, and NBC Universal), and (5) individual New York and Seattle broadcast television stations owned and operated by the named plaintiffs ¹ (WPIX, WNET, WABC, WCBS, WNBC, WNYW, WWOR, WNJU, WXTV, WFUT, KIRO, KOMO, KZJO, KSTW, and KCPQ). Plaintiffs spend millions of dollars each year to create copyrighted programming. They utilize several avenues to exploit their works for profit, including distribution agreements with licensed websites and cable operators, performance on their own websites, and advertising revenue.

ivi is a company that captures over-the-air broadcasts of plaintiffs' programming and simultaneously, without plaintiffs' consent, streams those broadcast signals over the Internet to subscribers who have downloaded the ivi TV player. Declaration of Todd Weaver in Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction (“Weaver Decl.”) ¶¶ 2–3. Specifically, ivi captures signals transmitted by FCC-licensed broadcast stations in Seattle, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Weaver Decl. ¶ 3; Transcript of Oral Argument (“Transcript”) at 3.² For $4.99 per month, and an additional $.99 for the ability to pause, rewind, and fast-forward, subscribers located anywhere in the United States can view the programming simultaneously being offered by the networks' affiliates in Seattle, New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles through any Internet-capable device. According to defendants, ivi uses equipment to determine the actual location of the computer operating the ivi TV player, and does not offer plaintiffs' programming to those outside the United States. Weaver Decl. ¶ 9.

ivi's service is limited to the simultaneous retransmission over the Internet of plaintiffs' copyrighted programming in real time. According to defendants, ivi operates through a “closed” system in which the programming is provided exclusively to its paying subscribers. The content is “encrypted and only decrypted and formatted in small increments shortly before viewing by ivi subscribers. Thereafter the content is rendered unusable, removed, and cannot readily be captured or passed along by consumers.” Weaver Decl. ¶ 5.

A significant difference between watching programming through ivi rather than on a traditional television is that instead of only being able to access what is currently being offered by the viewer's local stations, ivi's customers can watch whatever is being aired at that moment by the networks' affiliates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, or Seattle.

Defendants do not obtain plaintiffs' consent to use their programming, unlike traditional cable operators who are obligated to acquire retransmission consent under the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 325.

After sending several cease-and-desist letters, plaintiffs brought the instant suit objecting to the unsanctioned public performance of their copyrighted works.

STATUTORY TEXT AND DEFENDANTS' ARGUMENT

Defendants claim that they are entitled to a compulsory license to perform plaintiffs' programming pursuant to Section 111 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 111 (“Section 111”). This statute allows “cable systems” in compliance with the rules and regulations of the FCC to perform plaintiffs' programming as long as they make payments to the Copyright Office as determined by the statute.

Section 111(c)(1) of the Copyright Act provides that, subject to certain conditions:

“[S]econdary transmissions to the public by a cable system of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission or by an appropriate governmental authority of Canada or Mexico shall be subject to statutory licensing upon compliance with [record keeping and royalty fee requirements] where the carriage of signals comprising the secondary transmission is permissible under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission.”

17 U.S.C. § 111(c)(1). The statute later defines “cable system” as:

“[A] facility, located in any State, territory, trust territory, or possession of the United States, that in whole or in part receives signals transmitted or programs broadcast by one or more television broadcast stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, and makes secondary transmissions of such signals or programs by wires, cables, microwave, or other communications channels to subscribing members of the public who pay for such service. For purposes of determining the royalty fee under subsection (d)(1), two or more cable systems in contiguous communities under common ownership or control or operating from one headend shall be considered as one system.”

17 U.S.C. § 111(f)(3).

Defendants argue ³ that ivi fits within the statutory definition of a cable system under the Copyright Act. Further, while acknowledging that ivi does not comply with the “rules, regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”),” they claim that its transmissions are “permissible” under these rules because they occur over the Internet, which the FCC does not regulate. In other words, defendants argue that ivi is a cable system for purposes of the Copyright Act, and thus may take advantage of the compulsory license, but that it is not a cable system for purposes of the Communications Act, and thus it need not comply with the requirements of that Act and the rules of the FCC promulgated thereunder.

To place defendants' argument in a real world context, they assert that for the payment of approximately $100 a year to the Copyright Office (the payment for a Section 111 compulsory license) and without compliance with the strictures of the Communications Act or plaintiffs' consent, that they are entitled to use and profit from the plaintiffs' copyrighted works.

For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that ivi is not a cable system under Section 111, and thus do not reach the question of whether they are governed by the Communications Act.

PRIOR HISTORY

Plaintiffs filed their complaint seeking damages and injunctive relief on September 28, 2010. Plaintiffs' complaint notified the Court of a declaratory action brought by ivi days earlier in the Western District of Washington. ⁴ Plaintiffs thereafter informed the Court that they had filed a motion to dismiss the Washington action as an “improper anticipatory filing” which was not entitled to the traditional application of the first-filed rule under Ninth Circuit law. See Topics Entertainment, Inc. v. Rosetta Stone Ltd., Case No. C09–1408RSL, 2010 WL 55900, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 205 (W.D.Wash. Jan. 4, 2010) (collecting cases for the proposition that the Declaratory Judgment Act should not be invoked to deprive a plaintiff of its chosen forum and dismissing a first-filed declaratory action which was initiated after “specific, concrete indications that a suit by the defendant is imminent,” including a cease and desist letter). This Court held a phone conference on October 7, 2010, during which it informed the parties that while it intended to comply with the well-settled rule in this District that the court before which a first-filed action was brought determines which forum will hear the case, MSK Ins., Ltd. v. Employers Reinsurance Corp., 212 F.Supp.2d 266, 267 (S.D.N.Y.2002) (Buchwald, J.) (collecting cases), nonetheless the parties could proceed to brief any motions they wished so that there would be little delay if the Western District of Washington dismissed the case.⁵

In fact, this result eventuated. On January 19, 2011, the Western District of Washington dismissed ivi's declaratory action as an impermissible anticipatory filing. ivi, Inc. v. Fisher Comms., Inc., Case No. C10–1512JLR, 2011 WL 197419, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4925 (W.D.Wash. Jan. 19, 2011). The question of...