Aereo Subpoena Of Syncbak, CBS Docs Dismissed

A federal judge in Iowa on Tuesday dismissed a subpoena by Aereo for documents and testimony about CBS’s minority investment in Syncbak. The subpoena had also request information on how Syncbak’s technology works and any documents that might mention Aereo.

"The Court concludes that information relating to CBS’ investment in Syncbak, and the negotiations leading to that investment, have only marginal relevance to the underlying action, and can be obtained from CBS in any event," according to court documents. "Information regarding Syncbak’s location-based authentication technology is not relevant to the underlying copyright infringement case pending in New York....Aereo’s request for documents which refer in any way to Aereo is simply a fishing expedition."

Both Syncbak and Aereo stream live, local television to devices using location-based authentication technology. But Syncbak’s technology is embedded at a television station and only operates with that station’s permission. Aereo captures broadcasters’ over-the-air signals with remotely-located micro antennas, and then retransmits that signal to customers.