A district court judge in the US has granted a temporary injunction against Aereo, blocking the video streaming service from transmitting broadcasters’ programmes to its subscribers.
In June, the US Supreme Court ruled that Aereo breached the copyright of major sports leagues and their broadcast partners, but the company has since tried to reclassify itself as a cable-television provider in order to operate.
“The Supreme Court has concluded that Aereo performs publicly when it retransmits plaintiffs' content live over the Internet and thus infringes plaintiffs' copyrighted works,” US district judge Alison Nathan wrote in her opinion. “In light of this conclusion, Aereo cannot claim harm from its inability to continue infringing plaintiffs' copyrights.”
Aereo spokeswoman Virginia Lam said: “We are reviewing the decision and evaluating our options moving forward.”