• by Wayne Friedman , September 21, 2010

Another digital video company has ridden the wrong side of some copyright issues in running television programming via the Internet. But in an unusual twist, the company -- Seattle-based ivi TV -- has decided to sue first. 

The company launched last week and immediately received cease-and-desist notices from all the big TV broadcasters and media companies: NBC Universal, CBS, Walt Disney, ABC, The CW Television Stations, Fox Television, Major League Baseball, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, WGBH, WNET.org, and Seattle-based TV station group, Fisher Communications.

Because of its technology, ivi TV said it complies with copyright laws, and in a complaint filed earlier this week says "secondary transmission of an over-the-air primary transmission is not an infringement of copyrights in the works contained in the primary transmission."

The complaint was filed in the United States District Court in Seattle, Washington, on Monday, as "a preemptive move to discourage needless litigation from big media."

Todd Weaver, founder and CEO of ivi TV, says: "ivi is not another Pirate Bay or Napster trying to gain from others' works. Rather, ivi wishes to work with content owners in helping them to realize new revenue streams and reach more viewers from around the globe."

The company says ivi TV "gives people what they have wanted for years, easy-to-use live Internet TV anytime, anywhere to almost any bandwidth speed on a growing number of Internet-connected devices."