D.C. Circuit Upholds Copyright Infringement Finding Against Polish Broadcaster

A foreign broadcaster uploading copyrighted content onto its website and making it available for streaming to U.S. users is in violation of the Copyright Act, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said in a docket 17-7051 opinion Friday. The ruling affirmed a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruling that Polish government-owned broadcaster Telewizja Polska was violating Spanski Enterprise's copyrights and awarded Spanski $3.06 million in statutory damages. The appellate court rejected Polska arguments it was the end users who selected which content to view who ultimately were responsible for any infringement. It also rejected Polska arguments that its failure to geo-blocking the content for which Spanski had exclusive North American rights happened in Poland and therefore claims of Copyright Act liability would be an impermissible extraterritorial application of the law. Polska outside counsel said the decision was being reviewed. Deciding were Circuit judges David Tatel, Thomas Griffith and Robert Wilkins, with Tatel penning the decision. Amicus briefs in favor of Spanski had come from the U.S. and from Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., RIAA, American Association of Independent Music and National Music Publishers' Association.