Ivi Inc. also called Ivi, is a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

-based American corporation which offers a software application providing live

video streaming Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...

over the Internet for a

flat rate A flat fee, also referred to as a flat rate or a linear rate refers to a pricing structure that charges a single fixed fee for a service, regardless of usage. Less commonly, the term may refer to a rate that does not vary with usage or time of u ...

. Ivi (pronounced "ivy") is the first online cable company. The Ivi TV player is a downloadable software application that runs on

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

, or

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

computers that offers live television over the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

Legal

Ivi has been in a large lawsuit ('' WPIX, Inc. v. ivi, Inc.'') filed on September 28, 2010 and decided on August 27, 2012 with several major US TV networks. This case has been deemed "The Case That Could Finally Put Live TV on the Internet" by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

, since the outcome of the case will determine if shows streamed over the Internet will be able to compete with

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

and

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

. A group of four public interest groups; the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

, Media Access Project, Open Technology Initiative, and

Public Knowledge Public Knowledge is an American non-profit organization, non-profit advocacy, public interest group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2001 by David Bollier, Gigi Sohn, and Laurie Racine, Public Knowledge is primarily involved in the fields of ...

filed an

amicus curiae An amicus curiae (; ) is an individual or organization that is not a Party (law), party to a legal case, but that is permitted to assist a court by offering information, expertise, or insight that has a bearing on the issues in the case. Wheth ...

brief in support of Ivi stating "The law does not favor larger or better-funded entities over new or smaller ones, nor is it a bludgeon to be used by large, entrenched interests to eliminate nascent competitors". On February 22, 2011 District Judge Naomi Buchwald granted an

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

, shutting down most of the broadcast stations carried by Ivi. Ivi and its CEO argued that the company fitted the definition of a "cable system" under section 111(f) of U.S. Copyright Law. The plaintiffs, US TV Networks, argued that Ivi doesn't fit this description. The relevant part of copyright law reads "A cable system is a facility that 'makes secondary transmissions of such signals or programs by wires, cables, microwave, or other communications channels to subscribing members of the public. Ivi immediately filed an appeal to the

Second Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, and it has appellate jurisdic ...

, but the court affirmed the district court's decision.

References

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External links

ivi, Inc.
Software companies based in Seattle Defunct software companies of the United States

Legal

See also

References

External links