The Supreme Court dealt a potentially fatal blow to the TV streaming startup Aereo on Monday, ruling that the company with thousands of tiny antennas was guilty of copyright infringement on a massive scale.
First launched in 2012, the company allows people in several metro areas to view and record over-the-air television broadcasts over the Internet. Broadcasters sued Aereo, arguing that streaming their content without permission was copyright infringement.
But Aereo disagrees. The service is built around a vast array of tiny antennas — one for each active user. Citing a 2008 court decision, Aereo has argued that customers are just renting individual antennas to watch television they're legally entitled to watch anyway.
In a 6-3 decision written by Justice Stephen Breyer, the court sided with the broadcasters. Three of the court's conservatives — Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomaa, and Samuel Alito, dissented.