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Practical Impact of D.C. Circuit's Ruling on Foreign Broadcasters and Copyright Liability

By Scott D. Locke and Laura-Michelle Horgan

Broadcasters around the globe know that Americans want access to digital content and that they often ignore who provides it to them. For business reasons, tax reasons or to try to avoid liability under copyright law, many of these broadcasters intentionally do not set up operations in the United States. However, when these broadcasters transmit content for which they do not have authorization, they may be in violation of the copyright holder's rights.

Nonetheless, they have continued to do so because until recently there was an unanswered question as to whether U.S. copyright law could be used to protect against these actions. With the knowledge of this ambiguity in the law, coupled with the potential costs of U.S. litigation for both parties, broadcasters could rely on the fact that many copyright holders would be dissuaded from trying to enforcing their rights.

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