Internet TV streaming service FilmOn is contesting a decision by a DC-based federal judge to deny the company a modification to the almost nationwide preliminary injunction ordered on September 5th.

Internet TV streaming service FilmOn founder Alki David had congratulated rival service Aereo and its founder Barry Diller on its October 10 Boston court victory against a motion by the broadcast networks to injunction Aereo in the 1st Circuit and suggested that the decision allowed FilmOn to recommence its Local Service again in Massachusetts despite Judge Rosemary Collyer’s ruling in Washington DC.

Collyer’s October 15 ruling said:“It appears that FilmOn X may be acting in defiance of this Court’s Preliminary Injunction, possibly by retransmitting Plaintiff’s copyrighted broadcast programming in the Boston area.” The judge gave FilmOn X six days to explain why she shouldn’t hold them in contempt of court.

FilmOn X on October 10 petitioned the court to add Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine to the states not covered by the injunction. It cited the denial of an injunction sought by a Hearst-owned ABC affiliate against Aereo in Massachusetts as legal justification, but Collyer said: “In fact, Hearst was decided by a district court, not by the First Circuit. A contrary decision by a co-equal court in another district involving different parties does not represent a change in controlling law.” FilmOn’s Motion for Reconsideration effectively seeks modification of the scope of the Preliminary Injunction to exclude the geographic boundaries of the United States Court of Appeal for the First Circuit.

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