It’s been clear for some time now: Aereo’s fate will ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court. Arguments are scheduled for this April. Notwithstanding the forthcoming argument at the high court, US District Judge Dale Kimball of Utah has gone ahead and issued a preliminary injunction (PDF), which will ban the Aereo service in Utah as well as the rest of the 10th Circuit, which includes Wyoming, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado. Aereo is currently operating in two cities in the 10th Circuit, Salt Lake City and Denver. Kimball ruled that Aereo’s retransmission of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted programs “is indistinguishable a cable company and falls squarely within the language of the Transmit Clause.” He didn’t buy Aereo’s argument that its system of renting a tiny antenna to each customer allows it to avoid the “Transmit Clause” of the 1976 Copyright Act, which determines what kind of “transmissions” of copyrighted material must pay licensing fees.