Poster's note: "Cert" = certiorari, an order issued by the U.S. Supreme Court to a lower court (typically one of the Courts of Appeals) indicating that the Supreme Court will accept the case for further review. If the Supreme Court does not issue cert to a lower court, the lower court's decision stands. The Supreme Court may issue a cert if the losing party in the lower court appeals the lower court's decision, or if two or more lower courts reach conflicting decisions.
In Aereo's case, several copyright owners (including broadcast station licensees) have sued Aereo alleging violation of the Copyright Act of
1976. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (New York, Connecticut, and Vermont) ruled for Aereo.Plaintiffs have petitioned the Supreme Court for review of Second Circuit's decision. Aereo, apparently anxious to get the issue resolved once and for all, has stated that it will not oppose plaintiffs' petition.
Will the Supreme Court issue cert? The following article, posted on CommLawBlog on January 1, 2014 by Harry Cole, asks that very question.
| Supreme Court docket listing suggests decision on whether or | not to take the Aereo case is imminent. | | OK, it's obviously way too early for your offices Final Four
| just right for organizing an Aereo Cert pool! | | Will the Supreme Court agree to hear the broadcasters' appeal | of the Second Circuits denial of their efforts to put a | temporary kibosh on Aereo's operations in the Big Apple or | not? According to the Supremes docket listings, that | question is currently scheduled to be considered by the | Justices in their closed-door conference on January 10, 2014 - | which means that it's ... likely that well find out the | answer mid-morning on January 13 (the next day on which the | Court will be sitting). So get that pool started because time | is short! | | Regular readers will recall that, when last we left the Second | Circuit phase of the Aereo saga, broadcasters had tried three | separate times - first before the presiding U.S. District | Judge, then before a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit, | and finally before the Second Circuit en banc - to get Aereo | shut down at least until their copyright infringement lawsuit | against it can be completed. The broadcasters got nowhere in | any of those three fora.
[snip]| So let the fun begin! The most obvious point of contention | will be on the yes-or-no question of whether cert is granted. | But the possibility of side action exists. If cert is denied, | will any justice dissent (and if so, which one(s))? If cert is | granted, will the case be heard on an accelerated basis so | that it can resolved this term (i.e., by the end of June), or | will it be set for argument next fall? Whichever way the cert | decision goes, how long will it take the prevailing party to | formally pass that word along to the judges presiding over | broadcaster-vs.-Aereo litigation in the various other | jurisdictions - and will such notification have any effect on | the progress of such litigation? | | Check back here for updates. Well report the news as soon as | we get it - possibly by January 13.
Continued:
Here's my bet: Supremes will accept the case and will render a quick decision.
Neal McLain