Dish Network Escapes Copyright Claims Over Cox TV Retransmission

Dish Network LLC escaped copyright infringement claims for allegedly retransmitting Cox television stations without permission, a Chicago federal court ruled, based on a state court order that established consent.

Dish and Northwest Broadcasting Inc. entered into an agreement that allowed Dish to retransmit some local television stations to its subscribers. Under the agreement any station acquired by Northwest would be governed by it, even if the station had a separate retransmission agreement with Dish.

Terrier Media Buyer Inc., d/b/a Cox Media Group, bought Northwest’s parent company, which acquired 13 stations from Cox Enterprises that were governed by the Northwest agreement. ...