2nd Circuit Reverses Lower Court on TVEyes Fair Use

While TVEyes' redistribution of Fox content is transformative by making specific Fox content searchable and convenient, that redistribution -- involving virtually all Fox content -- is so broad that TVEyes failed to show its video search product can be justified as fair use, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a docket 15-3885 ruling Tuesday. The 2nd Circuit also reversed a lower court ruling that some TVEyes functions are fair use and remanded a permanent injunction against TVEyes so the lower court can revise the injunction to enjoin the company from offering its Watch function. Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote the opinion, joined by Jon Newman. In a concurring opinion, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of Manhattan, sitting by designation, didn't agree with the majority's characterization of the Watch function being "somewhat transformative." TVEyes' counsel didn't comment.