When The Hollywood Reporter spoke to experts before the Supreme Court’s Aereo argument two months ago, they predicted a tough fight for Aereo but also that the case was so complex legally that the result could be as lopsided as 8-1 in either direction.
By those metrics, the court’s decision yesterday did not disappoint. Among the most surprising words of the 6-3 smackdown that crushed Aereo were the ones that began the opinion: “Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court.” Breyer is known as a technologist and has stood in the past against what he saw as overextension of copyright law. No one anticipated he’d be writing the startup’s death warrant.
But so he did. What was his reasoning? Hollywood’s elated, Aereo’s defeated – why did the Supreme Court reach the decision it did, who won and who lost? For details, see The Hollywood Reporter.
