1. ABC et al v. Aereo, Inc American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., et al. v. Aereo, Inc., For petitioners: Paul D. Clement, Washington, D. C.; and Malcolm L. Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, Depart­ment of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.) For respondent: David C. Frederick, Washington, D. C.

2. QUESTION PRESENTED The Copyright Act of 1976 grants the owner of copyright in an audiovisual work the exclusive right “to perform the copyrighted work publicly.” Respondent’s service enables paying subscribers to receive copyrighted broadcast television programs over the Internet by using thousands of miniature antennas to capture, create, and stream an individual digital copy of a broadcast program to each subscriber who seeks to watch it.

3. The question presented is as follows: Whether respondent’s service infringes petitioners’ exclusive right “to perform their copyrighted work publicly.”

4. ABC’s position At issue in this challenge is the definition of a public transmission / public performance. ABC says Aereo is publicly performing copyrighted work without a license to thousands of paid subscribers over the Internet.

5. Aereo’s position Aereo says that the company is not about broadcasting “publicly” in violation of copyright, but simply to an individual consumer. The technology behind Aereo “does not cause infringement because Aereo does not engage in any performance to the public.”

6. How the company operates: A consumer has access to a remotely located individual antenna that only receives a broadcast signal when a user requests to tune to a particular channel. The consumer uses Aereo’s equipment to create a unique copy of that programming, and the individual user can view his copy using an Internet-connected device shortly thereafter.