Fox Appeals Hopper Decision to Ninth Circuit

Wastes no time in wake of lower court decision rejection preliminary injunction

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/9/2012 6:53:41 PM

Fox late Friday filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asking the court to block Dish's AutoHop ad-skipping function.

That followed a California District Court denial of Fox's request for a preliminary injunction while that court hears Fox's challenge.

Fox had said it would appeal that decision, or at least the part about not granting the injunction. Fox says the decision, which was sealed, concluded the AutoHop function is copyright infringement. Dish says it did not.

Fox had asked the lower court for "preliminary and permanent injunctive relief against Defendants' unlawful scheme to profit from an unprecedented and unauthorized new system for violating Plaintiffs' copyrights in prime time network television programming."

In the underlying case, which has yet to be tried, charges copyright infringement and breach of contract. Fox is seeking to enjoin Dish's auto-hop service plus an award of compensatory and statutory damages, costs and attorney's fees.