U.S. District Judge in D.C. enjoins Aereo-like service everywhere but the Second Circuit.

Score a big one for the broadcasters! A federal district judge in the District of Columbia has enjoined FilmOn X (that would be the folks formerly known as “Aereokiller” who operated at “BarryDriller.com”) from operating its dime-sized wannabe-MVPD service, much like a judge did in Los Angeles late last year.

But get this – the D.C. judge went way further than the L.A. judge by extending the injunction NATIONWIDE (except for New York, Vermont and Connecticut).

To say that this complicates matters in the overall Aereo/Aereokiller universe would be an understatement.

First things first. The latest decision was issued by Judge Rosemary M. Collyer, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. FilmOn X had cranked up its service in the D.C. area last spring, which prompted D.C. broadcasters to ask the D.C. federal court to shut it down – essentially the same scenario that had already played out in New York (with Aereo’s similar service) and L.A. (where FilmOn X, but not Aereo, was the defendant). As our readers already know, the Second Circuit judges in NYC declined to enjoin Aereo’s operation, but a U.S District Judge in the Ninth Circuit in L.A. did enjoin FilmOn X. (We’re still awaiting a decision from the three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit reviewing that latter decision.)

Both the NYC and L.A. decisions were based on the same facts and underlying precedent presented to Judge Collyer, so she had two flatly inconsistent model approaches (in her words, “a binary choice”) that she could use as guidance. She opted to go West Coast, but with a couple of twists.

First, instead of simply citing Judge Wu’s decision in the initial FilmOn X case and chiming in “me too”, Judge Collyer undertook her own detailed analysis of the Copyright Act and its legislative history. Her conclusion: the FilmOn X operation clearly infringes the plaintiffs’ copyrights. In so doing, she tipped her hat to Judge Chin’s dissents in the Second Circuit litigation and Judge Wu’s analysis in the L.A. case. But she went further than either of those by (among other things) directly challenging the claim that the Aereo/FilmOn X mini-antenna approach creates a cute little “one-to-one relationship” between a single mini-antenna and a single viewer/subscriber. Characterizing that as a “charitable description”, Judge Collyer offered a far more critical assessment:

[W]hile each user may have an assigned antenna and hard-drive directory temporarily, the mini-antennas are networked together so that a single tuner server and router, video encoder, and distribution endpoint can communicate with them all. The television signal is captured by FilmOn X and passes through FilmOn X’s single electronic transmission process of aggregating servers and electronic equipment. This system, through which any member of the public who clicks on the link for the video feed, is hardly akin to an individual user stringing up a television antenna on the roof.

Her take on the technology skewered the Aereo/FilmOn X theory of the case.

Not stopping there, she also found considerable support in the Copyright Act for the notion that Congress intended to extend copyright protection to transmissions through “all kinds of equipment”, including the innovative mini-antennas deployed by FilmOn X.

Having determined that the broadcaster plaintiffs are likely to win on the merits of the case and would suffer irreparable harm if FilmOn X is permitted to continue its operation pending the trial of the case, Judge Collyer had no problem concluding that an injunction should be issued.

But then came the next twist.

The injunction would be effective not just in D.C., but rather NATIONWIDE, with the limited exception of states within the Second Circuit’s jurisdiction – i.e., New York, Vermont and Connecticut. That limited carve-out was a matter of “comity” in recognition of the fact that the Second Circuit has thus far declined to enjoin Aereo from operation there. But since there is no precedent in any other circuit contrary to Collyer’s decision, she figured that the Copyright Act “commands a nationwide injunction”, so she could and should enjoin FilmOn X everywhere but the Second Circuit.

So how does this affect the overall battlefield?

First, Collyer’s decision will almost certainly be appealed to the D.C. Circuit, but even if it is, we probably won’t see a Circuit decision for a year at least. So her injunction will likely remain in effect for the foreseeable future. That means that FilmOn X’s operations will be in check for the time being everywhere but in the Second Circuit.

Second, Collyer’s decision should buoy the spirits of broadcasters everywhere outside the Second Circuit, all of whom are facing the continuing roll-out of Aereo’s service. While Aereo is not itself subject to Judge Collyer’s injunction (since Aereo is not a party to that proceeding), the fact that an Aereo-like system has been enjoined from operation nationwide may prompt other judges in other circuits to similarly enjoin Aereo. There’s already a parallel copyright infringement suit pending in U.S. District Court in Boston (that would be in the First Circuit); the broadcast plaintiff there has already requested an injunction. (A hearing on the broadcaster’s motion is currently scheduled for September 18.) And Aereo is now up and running in Atlanta and Utah as well, so we won’t be surprised to see new lawsuits filed there (for readers keeping score, those would be in the Eleventh and Tenth Circuits, respectively.)

Third, the likelihood of a “circuit split” – and consequent Supreme Court review – has increased. Yes, we’re still waiting to hear what the Ninth Circuit will do in its review of Judge Wu’s FilmOn X decision and no, we won’t know for a while where the D.C. Circuit stands, but having yet another federal judge weigh in against FilmOn X clearly adds heft to the anti-Second Circuit position. That’s especially true to the extent that the nationwide scope of Collyer’s injunction may induce other courts to adopt her approach with respect to Aereo.

So while the seemingly inexorable roll-out of Aereo’s service may have dispirited broadcasters, the cavalry may just have arrived, thanks to Judge Collyer. The next few months should prove interesting. Check back here for updates.