Spanski Enterprises, Inc. v. Telewizja Polska, S.A.

Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
883 F.3d 904 (2018)

ELI5:

Rule of Law:

A foreign entity that uploads copyrighted content to its website from abroad and makes that content available for streaming to users in the United States commits a domestic violation of the U.S. Copyright Act because the infringing 'public performance' occurs where the content is received and viewed.

Facts:

Telewizja Polska, S.A. ('TV Polska'), a Polish national broadcaster, entered into a settlement agreement granting Spanski Enterprises, Inc. ('Spanski') the exclusive right to perform TV Polska's content, including online, in North and South America.
TV Polska operated a video-on-demand website and used geoblocking technology, which was set by default to block access from the Americas, to protect Spanski's exclusive rights.
TV Polska employees took volitional actions to remove the default geoblocking restrictions for fifty-one specific television episodes.
As a result of these actions, the fifty-one episodes, in which Spanski held valid and exclusive U.S. copyrights, became available for streaming to internet users in the United States via TV Polska's website.
Between December 2011 and March 2012, Spanski's attorneys and a website developer viewed each of the fifty-one episodes, at least in part, on TV Polska's website from computers located in the United States.
After the infringement was discovered, TV Polska deleted several of the episodes' non-geoblocked formats and retrospectively altered work logs to create the impression that the episodes had always been properly geoblocked.

Procedural Posture:

Spanski Enterprises, Inc. sued Telewizja Polska S.A. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for copyright infringement.
Following a five-day bench trial, the district court found TV Polska liable for willful copyright infringement.
The district court awarded Spanski statutory damages of $60,000 per infringed episode, for a total of $3,060,000.
TV Polska (appellant) appealed the district court's judgment regarding both liability and damages to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, with Spanski (appellee) responding.

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Issue:

Does a foreign broadcaster commit a domestic violation of the U.S. Copyright Act's public performance right when it uploads copyrighted content to its website from abroad and streams it, upon request, to users in the United States, where another party holds the exclusive U.S. performance rights?

Opinions:

Majority - Tatel, Circuit Judge

Yes. A foreign broadcaster commits a domestic violation of the U.S. Copyright Act because the infringing public performance occurs in the United States where the content is viewed, not merely where it is uploaded. First, transmitting content through an on-demand system constitutes a 'public performance' under the Copyright Act. Citing the Supreme Court's decision in American Broadcasting Cos. v. Aereo, Inc., the court reasoned that even automated systems that respond to a user's request 'perform' the work. TV Polska's conduct was even more volitional than Aereo's because it purposely selected and uploaded the content. Second, this conduct constitutes a domestic violation of the Act. Applying the Supreme Court's two-step framework for extraterritoriality from RJR Nabisco, the court determined the 'focus' of the Copyright Act's public performance right is the location of the infringement itself—the unauthorized showing of the work's images. Because the images were shown on computer screens in the United States, the conduct relevant to the statute's focus occurred domestically, making it a permissible domestic application of the Act, even though other conduct (uploading) occurred abroad.

Analysis:

This decision is a significant clarification of copyright law in the digital age, establishing that for online streaming, the location of the viewer is determinative for jurisdiction and liability. It prevents foreign entities from using their physical location as a shield to escape liability for infringing content directed at U.S. audiences. The ruling strengthens the position of U.S. copyright holders by confirming that the infringing 'performance' occurs where the protected work is displayed, solidifying the domestic nature of the injury. This precedent will heavily influence future cases involving transnational internet transmissions and online piracy, making it more difficult for foreign websites to evade U.S. copyright enforcement.

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