They said the case could be the most important ruling on copyright law since the 1984 decision in the case of Sony Corp.'s video recorder.
On Monday morning, the court issued a one-line order in Cable News Network vs. CSC Holdings, saying the solicitor general "is invited to file a brief in this case expressing the views of the United States."
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said they took no part in this decision, apparently because they own stocks in the affected companies.
If the solicitor general advises the court to take up the issue, the case would not be heard until the fall.
In a second closely watched business case, the justices cleared the way for consumers in California and elsewhere to sue grocery stores on suspicion of violating federal food-labeling laws.
Usually, the Food and Drug Administration enforces these laws. But several consumers, led by Jennifer Kanter of Los Angeles, sued grocery stores and asserted they had not disclosed that farm-raised salmon were being given a dye that gave them the reddish appearance of wild salmon.
Over the objections of the major supermarket chains, the California Supreme Court allowed this suit to proceed.
The supermarket chains appealed to the Supreme Court and argued that the law makes clear the FDA has the authority to enforce the food-labeling law, not private plaintiffs who file lawsuits. The court turned away the appeal in Albertsons vs. Kanter and allowed the suit to go forward.
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david.savage@latimes.com
