Broadcasters sue Ivi for copyright infringement

News Corp's Fox, Walt Disney Co's ABC, CBS, General Electric Co's NBC and the Public Broadcasting Service sued tiny upstart online subscription service Ivi for offering TV shows on the Internet without permission.

The networks' suit follows a pre-emptive strike by Ivi, which brought a lawsuit against broadcasters on Sept 20 -- one week after opening for business -- that sought a ruling it was not infringing copyrights. Ivi, which received letters from various broadcasters, claims the U.S. Copyright Act authorizes secondary transmissions of copyrighted works embodied in primary transmissions and so its application that gives viewers access to more than 20 channels for just $4.99 a month is not infringing.