The Supreme Court is set to rule on a case that has the potential either to shut down a Boston startup or dramatically change the media landscape.
"We're as prepared as we can be. There is no plan B," said Virginia Lam of Aereo, which is headquartered in New York City but has 80 of its 115 employees in Boston.
The nation's highest court could rule today on the legality of Aereo, which charges users $8 per month for retransmitting free broadcast channels to their mobile devices. Broadcast companies say Aereo is violating copyright law, while Aereo says its service is no different than old-fashioned rabbit ears.
One of the key legal issues in the case is the distinction between public performance, which is subject to copyright law, and private performance, which isn't. Supporters of Aereo have said a ruling against the company could have detrimental effects to the entire cloud computing industry, one of the hottest sectors in recent years.
"It's likely we'll see an opinion weighing these two constituencies and see if they can craft a rule that deals with both," said Matthew Schruers, VP of Law and Policy with the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which filed a brief in support of Aereo.
A win for Aereo could bring in many similar companies, threatening entrenched cable companies, Schruers said.
"We may see a lot of companies trying to get into this market," he said. "There will certainly be changes."
Dennis Wharton of the National Association of Broadcasters said an Aereo win would set a dangerous precedent.
"It would empower companies who want to build their businesses on pirated content to go forward with impunity," he said.
If Aereo prevails, some broadcasters have said they will pull their content from the airwaves and put it on cable, where Aereo can't touch it.
A loss for Aereo could mean many different things depending on how narrow or broad the ruling is. The justices could say that everything Aereo does is copyright infringement, a ruling that would effectively shut down the company. The court could also say the technology is legal but the way it is implemented is not.
If the ruling does go against Aereo, the company will evaluate its options after the decision has been made, Lam said.
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