Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2014

Communications Law

Journal

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

Articles 1 - 1 of 1

Full-Text Articles in Law

Aerevolution: Why We Should, Briefly, Embrace Unlicensed Online Streaming Of Retransmitted Broadcast Television Content, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 577 (2014), Bradley Ryba Jan 2014

Aerevolution: Why We Should, Briefly, Embrace Unlicensed Online Streaming Of Retransmitted Broadcast Television Content, 13 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 577 (2014), Bradley Ryba

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

The United States has long recognized broadcast television programming’s importance to the public’s information and entertainment needs. Accordingly, Congress has historically offered strong copyright protections for broadcast television networks. Those strong protections allowed broadcast networks to withstand business threats from innovations like cable television and VCRs. However, Congress’ recent silence on DVRs and cloud computing technology has allowed an entrepreneur to create the networks’ next biggest threat, Aereo. The creators of Aereo and similar businesses designed their services specifically around ambiguities within copyright law that could allow them to transmit networks’ content without paying the otherwise necessary consent fees. These …