Satellite pirate ordered to pay $51 million
2010-01-11 13:30:00
Whether Dish Network, EchoStar and NagraStar will ever be able to collect anywhere near the full amount remains to be seen, but a federal judge in Tampa has awarded them $51 million from Robert Ward, who was found to have posted software on the Internet for people to receive subscription satellite TV without paying.
"This is a significant victory in our effort to eradicate piracy of the Dish Network system. We thank the court for its well-reasoned analysis," said NagraStar CEO Pascal Lenoir. Nagrastar LLC is a joint venture between EchoStar and Kudelski SA. It supplies conditional access and smart cards for satellite TV systems.
The plaintiffs said the summary judgment ruling made two significant holdings that will strengthen the companies' ability to pursue pirates in the future. The court held that the posting of pirate software constitutes a violation of the Federal Communications Act, and that statutory damages should be calculated based on how many individuals downloaded the pirate software.
Signal Pirate Slapped with $51 Million Penalty
By Mansha Daswani
Published: January 11, 2010
ENGLEWOOD: A Florida court has awarded DISH Network, EchoStar and NagraStar $51 million in damages after an individual posted software on the Internet that allowed individuals to illegally access DISH's pay-TV signal with free-to-air receivers.
In the decision against Robert Ward, the court held that the posting of pirate software constitutes a violation of the Federal Communications Act, and that statutory damages should be calculated based on how many individuals downloaded the pirate software.
"This is a significant victory in our effort to eradicate piracy of the DISH Network system," said Pascal Lenoir, the CEO of NagraStar, a venture of EchoStar and Kudelski that provides smart cards and conditional access systems for pay-TV platforms.
Federal Court Slaps Satellite Signal Pirate With $51 Million Judgment
Dish Network says service to pay for abetting signal theft
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/11/2010 12:47:34 PM
A federal court in Florida has slapped Robert Ward with a $51 million summary judgment for distributing software that aided in the theft of DISH Network signals.
In the process, it left no doubt that it believes the Communications Act prohibition on "any electronic, mechanical, or other device or equipment" that aids in the unauthorized decryption of a satellite programming" includes software.
According to DISH, the court held that posting software on the Internet that allows people to receive DISH signals for free violates the Communications Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and that damages could be calculated according to the number of people who downloaded the software (rather than how many people actually used it to steal signals.
Divvying up that $52 million will be DISH Network, co-owned equipment/services company EchoStar Technologies and NagraStar, the EchoStar co-venture with Kudelski Group that supplies the conditional access security technology to protect satellite signals from theft.
The decision, rendered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, took aim at piracy software marketed as "Thedssguy and Veracity" that allowed viewers to bypass NagraStar's conditional access security and receive premium as well as regular channels that meant lost potential revenue of over $70 per month per viewer that did not have to pay to get its programming.
The court said DISH had provided "significant independent admissible evidence of Ward's violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Communications Act."
The DMCA prohibits the dissemination of technology "designed or produced for circumventing a measure that controls access to a copyrighted work," is marketed for that function, and has limited commercial use beyond that function. DISH argued for summary judgment, saying there was irrefutable evidence that that was exactly what Ward was doing. The court agreed.
The court said the DMCA was the relevant statute under which to award damages. It actually levied the minimum fine of $200 per act of circumvention (it could have dunned Ward up to $2,500 per). But with a documented 255,741 files provided, it added up quickly to $51,148,200, plus a permanent injunction.
Updated Dish, EchStar, Nagrastar To Receive $51 Million In Anti-Piracy Case
Federal Court Slaps Ward with Judgement
John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 1/11/2010 12:35:15 PM
A federal court in Florida has slapped Robert Ward with a $51 million summary judgment for distributing software that aided in the theft of Dish Network signals.
In the process, it left no doubt that it believes the Communications Act prohibition on "any electronic, mechanical, or other device or equipment" that aids in the unauthorized decryption of a satellite programming" includes software.
According to Dish, the court held that posting software on the Internet that allows people to receive DISH signals for free violates the Communications Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and that damages could be calculated according to the number of people, who downloaded the software (rather than how many people actually used it to steal signals.
Divvying up that $51 million: Dish, co-owned equipment/services company EchoStar Technologies, and NagraStar, the EchoStar co-venture with Kudelski Group that supplies the conditional access security technology to protect satellite signals from theft.
The decision, rendered by the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, took aim at piracy software marketed as "Thedssguy and Veracity" that allowed viewers to bypass NagraStar's conditional access security and receive premium as well as regular channels that meant lost potential revenue of over $70 per month per viewer that did not have to pay to get its programming.
The court said Dish had provided "significant independent admissible evidence of Ward's violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Communications Act."
The DMCA prohibits the dissemination of technology "designed
or produced for circumventing a measure that controls access to a copyrighted work," is marketed for that function, and has limited commercial use beyond that function. DISH argued for summary judgment, saying there was irrefutable evidence that that was exactly what Ward was doing. The court agreed.
The court said the DMCA was the relevant statute under which to award damages. It actually levied the minimum fine of $200 per act of circumvention (it could have dunned Ward up to $2,500 per). But with a documented 255,741 files provided, it added up quickly to $51,148,200, plus a permanent injunction.
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