Aereo CEO & CTO Ordered By Judge To Explain Patents

Chet Kanojia really didn’t want to sit down to answer apparent contradictions about Aereo‘s patent applications, but today a federal judge ruled that’s what the streaming service CEO and CTO Joseph Lipowski are going to do. Re-affirming his June 20 order that Aereo hand over Kanojia and Lipowski for another hour of deposition with lawyers from suing broadcasters, Judge Henry Pitman pushed aside a slew of objections from the Barry Diller-backed company’s application for reconsideration and told the duo to make themselves available. As the copyright infringement complaint, which was first filed on March 1, 2012, weaves and grinds towards a 2014 trial start, the broadcasters’ attorneys want to probe the two about what their service really is and what Aereo’s patent applications really are. And the NY-based magistrate suggests that Aereo might have played fast and loose with the truth in a previous court win in their favor. “In opposing plaintiffs’ application for a preliminary injunction, Aereo offered expert testimony suggesting that its internet retransmission capability was not substantially different from what consumers could accomplish with off-the-shelf components,” noted Pitman in his 15-page order (read it here). “In their patent application, however, in an apparent effort to establish novelty, the inventors state that broadcast ‘content is generally only available for display on a traditional television. There is generally no simple way for a user to have this content available to their other video-capable devices.’ Although the two positions are not irreconcilable, there is a certain tension between them sufficient to warrant examination,” the judge added. Right now the much-sued streaming service shows network TV to subscribers in NYC, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Salt Lake City and Dallas with San Antonio, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio launches set in the near future.

Related:
Aereo Puts Chicago Launch On Hold
Aereo Chief Says Don’t Compare His Service With FilmOnX

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