## Facts

- The National Football League (NFL) asserted copyright interests in live game telecasts and related audiovisual programming.
- TVRadioNow Corp. operated an internet-based service that captured television and/or radio broadcasts and retransmitted them online to remote users.
- The NFL alleged the retransmissions included live NFL game broadcasts and were made without authorization from the NFL or its broadcasting licensees.
- The NFL sued for copyright infringement and sought immediate injunctive relief to stop the online retransmissions during the season.
- The ruling addressed whether temporary injunctive relief should issue while the case proceeded.

## Issues

1. Whether internet retransmission of live NFL game broadcasts constitutes an unauthorized “public performance” (and related infringement) under the Copyright Act.
2. Whether the NFL showed entitlement to preliminary injunctive relief, including likelihood of success and irreparable harm.
3. Whether asserted defenses—such as fair use, private viewing/place-shifting, or “mere conduit” theories—barred injunctive relief.

## Decision

- The court granted preliminary injunctive relief against TVRadioNow.
- The court found the NFL demonstrated a likelihood of success that the challenged online retransmissions infringed exclusive copyright rights, including the right of public performance by transmission.
- The court rejected characterizations of the service as passive infrastructure or user-controlled private viewing, treating TVRadioNow as responsible for the capture, digitization, and transmission.
- The court found irreparable harm from loss of control over public performances and disruption to the NFL’s licensing and exclusivity arrangements.
- The balance of hardships and the public interest favored enforcement of copyright protections over continuation of an unauthorized retransmission service.

## Legal Principles

- Streaming or retransmitting an audiovisual broadcast over the internet to remote users can constitute a “public performance” by transmission under the Copyright Act.
- A service that captures a broadcast signal, converts it to digital form, and transmits it to users is not a neutral conduit when it materially participates in the infringing transmission.
- Fair use is unlikely to excuse real-time retransmission of entire live broadcasts offered as a commercial service, particularly where it threatens established licensing markets.
- For preliminary injunctions in copyright cases, likely infringement plus harm to licensing control and exclusivity can support a finding of irreparable harm, and hardships do not favor a defendant whose business depends on infringing conduct.

## Conclusion

The court barred TVRadioNow’s unauthorized online retransmission of live NFL broadcasts, concluding the NFL was likely to prove infringement—especially via the public-performance right—and that continued retransmissions would cause irreparable harm to the NFL’s control of licensed broadcast markets.


Nat'l Football League v. TVRadioNow Corp., 53 U.S.P.Q.2d 1831 (2000)