Temporary Restraining for FilmOn, Copyright Infringement Issues Affect an Industry
As a result of latest development in their copyright infringement case, FilmOn.com has been issued a temporary restraining order by a judge. The case was filed by Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC, America’s four major Television networks. These TV networks claimed that FilmOn was transmitting their programming over the web without permission and hence violating copyright law.
FlimOn must convince the judge that its service is legit before it can resume its broadcasting. On the other hand, FilmOn’s founder Alki David said that all of their broadcasts are legal. “We’re a bona fide business,” he said. “We’re not pirates.”
FilmOn is not alone in the queue of copyright infringement suits as we keep on hearing about similar cases of other Internet re-broadcasters. Just a few days back, it was ivi TV sued for a similar reason. Incidentally, the case was overseen by the same judge, Naomi Reice Buchwald, of the federal court for the Southern District of New York.
Do not forget to take a look at our coverage on Viacom, which hasn’t let go of those early lawsuits against online video networks, upping the ante on its case against Google-owned YouTube. Viacom also made a huge public reaction saying “No” to Google TV, making a common front with above mentioned television networks.
It seems as if this is the networks’ attempt to make a statement, using copyright as a bullying tactic to regulate and wholly control web distribution of video content. The same legal tactics were used in the music industry, with major labels suing start-ups for copyright infringement, or charging high royalties. Major TV networks brought several lawsuits against early web video services during the web 2.0 days, and as revenue streams emerge from online video distributors, we can expect to see a lot more lawsuits.
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