Dish, EchoStar, Nagrastar To Receive $51 Million In Anti-Piracy Case

[dan9999]

Dish, EchoStar, Nagrastar To Receive $51 Million In Anti-Piracy Case
John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 1/11/2010 12:35:15 PM

Dish Network says a federal court in Florida has slapped a satellite signal pirate with a $51 million judgment for abetting signal theft.

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 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 will be Dish Network, co-owned equipment/services company EchoStar Technologies, and NagraStar, the EchoStar subsidiary that supplies the conditional access security technology to protect satellite signals from theft.

[dan9999]

Court Awards DISH Network(R), EchoStar and NagraStar $51 Million in Anti-Piracy Case

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Jan 11, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX News Network/ -- Today, DISH Network L.L.C., EchoStar Technologies L.L.C. and NagraStar scored another important anti-piracy victory. A Florida federal court issued a $51 million dollar judgment against Robert Ward, who posted software on the Internet that allowed individuals to illegally receive DISH Network programming using Free-To-Air receivers.

In the summary judgment decision, the court 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.

"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 Pascal Lenoir, CEO of NagraStar.

[sneerboy]

Yup, there's no such thing as free tv.
:)

[anyonomus]

Guess he or us could not expect any less..
Should be very interesting now..
Cheers 'any

[fifties]

As if Bob had 51 million...They might seize his assets and collect a few bucks, but that's about it.

He'll prolly need to change his identity to keep their hands from reaching any future earnings he develops.

[amAuser]

A link for a friend:

w.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/11/satellite_piracy_judgement/

Partial C/P
A federal judge has slapped a $51m judgment on a Florida man for distributing software that allowed people to receive television programming from Dish Network without paying for it.

The ruling, issued Monday by US District Judge James S. Moody Jr. of Tampa, found that Robert Ward violated both the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Communications Act. Using the online monikers "Thedssguy" and "Veracity," Ward provided 255,741 piracy software files, making him liable for damages of $51.148m, or $200 per download.

[dan9999]

A link for a friend:

w.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/11/satellite_piracy_judgement/

Partial C/P
A federal judge has slapped a $51m judgment on a Florida man for distributing software that allowed people to receive television programming from Dish Network without paying for it.

The ruling, issued Monday by US District Judge James S. Moody Jr. of Tampa, found that Robert Ward violated both the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Communications Act. Using the online monikers "Thedssguy" and "Veracity," Ward provided 255,741 piracy software files, making him liable for damages of $51.148m, or $200 per download.

The above post was posted in the Court Documents section but I see no court document posted
and cannot find any on the link provided so I'm merged this story with the existing story here...

Cheers!

[dan9999]

Here is the full story from amAuser's post above...

---

Judge awards Dish Network $51m from satellite pirate
'Substantial and unquantifiable harm'
Dan Goodin
theregister.co.uk
11th January 2010

A federal judge has slapped a $51m judgment on a Florida man for distributing software that allowed people to receive television programming from Dish Network without paying for it.

The ruling, issued Monday by US District Judge James S. Moody Jr. of Tampa, found that Robert Ward violated both the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Communications Act. Using the online monikers "Thedssguy" and "Veracity," Ward provided 255,741 piracy software files, making him liable for damages of $51.148m, or $200 per download.

Under the DMCA, Ward could have been forced to pay $2,500 for each download, an amount that would have brought damages to more than $639m. Ward was also ordered to pay Dish Network's attorney fees and to permanently stop making or distributing software that circumvents the satellite provider's security.

"Plaintiffs have established that Ward's distribution of piracy software caused substantial and unquantifiable harm in that he enabled an untold number of end-users to circumvent the Dish Network security system and intercept copyrighted Dish Network programming," Moody wrote. "A permanent injunction is also necessary to prevent Ward from engaging in future wrongful conduct because plaintiffs do not have an adequate remedy to prevent damage they would suffer by further infringement by Ward."

The software at issue allowed users to bypass access security technology provided by Dish co-venture NagraStar, so they could receive premium programming and regular channels on so-called free-to-air receivers. The receivers are designed to play only unencrypted satellite transmissions, such as ethnic, religious, and advertising content. After flashing the devices with the software, users could watch paid programming on the receivers.

Dish Network characterized the ruling was a major victory that will strengthen its ability to enforce its copyrights. In addition to ruling that damages could be calculated on the number of individuals who downloaded the software, the judge also found that the software violated the Communications Act, the first time a federal judge has done so.

"This is a significant victory in our effort to eradicate piracy of the Dish Network System," the company said in a statement.

According to Moody's order, Ward made multiple online posts in which he shared his name, date of birth, telephone number, street address, and email address.

An attorney for Ward didn't respond to requests for comment.

[dan9999]

In the above post, it reads...

Using the online monikers "Thedssguy" and "Veracity,"
Ward provided 255,741 piracy software files,
making him liable for damages of $51.148m, or $200 per download.

I'd like to know where/how they got that number?

[sneerboy]

In the above post, it reads...

Using the online monikers "Thedssguy" and "Veracity,"
Ward provided 255,741 piracy software files,
making him liable for damages of $51.148m, or $200 per download.

I'd like to know where/how they got that number?

Dunno, but I'll send dick $200 for the latest fix, if that's the going rate.
:)

[fifties]

In the above post, it reads...

Using the online monikers "Thedssguy" and "Veracity,"
Ward provided 255,741 piracy software files,
making him liable for damages of $51.148m, or $200 per download.

I'd like to know where/how they got that number?
They went back 4 or 5 years, gathering evidence from all the forums he had posted on, Al7bar, Hash, etc, and then multiplied each file by the number of times it had been D/L. They used the forums own counters against him.

[Marcella]

They went back 4 or 5 years, gathering evidence from all the forums he had posted on, Al7bar, Hash, etc, and then multiplied each file by the number of times it had been D/L. They used the forums own counters against him.

"50" I hope you are right and it wasn't IP's

[amAuser]

Another article:
Satellite TV Pirate Torpedoed With $51M Damages Award
By JOE HYLKEMA, Andrews Publications Correspondent

hxxp://news.findlaw.com/andrews/bt/cmp/20100113/20100113_dishnetwork.html

"Dish Network LLC et al. v. Ward, No. 08-CV-590-T-30BM, order entered (M.D. Fla. Tampa Div. Jan. 8, 2010)"

Looks like a court document to me(I am not a lawyer):
w.docstoc.com/docs/16746405/Dish-Network-LLC-et-al-v-Ward

[fifties]

"50" I hope you are right and it wasn't IP's
Lol, relax Marcella, they are not gonna go hunting for your IP; just between the three biggest sites on the net, ftatalk, aba, and d**rookie, there are over a million members alone.

It was listed in a court doc as a deposition -by a company called DEI, based in Canada- that they began archiving every page of every FTA site of interest starting in 2005.

TDG was a target for DN, so they concentrated on everything he posted in order to tie his real name, address, phone number, and anything else, to his internet nics.

[dan9999]

DISH Network shanghais a pirate
By Michael Roberts
blogs.westword.com
Wed., Jan. 13 2010

Englewood-based DISH Network faces plenty of challenges in today's entertainment environment, not the least of which is piracy of its programming using software that lets folks with free-to-air receivers view it for nothing. Which is a lot cheaper than a monthly fee.

Stopping all such schemes is damn near impossible -- but earlier this week, DISH, in conjunction with EchoStar Technologies and NagraStar, effectively put the kibosh on one of them, winning a $51 million judgment in Florida against one Robert Ward.

Doubtful that DISH will see much if any of that amount -- but at least the ruling offered some precedential positives, with the court holding that posting pirate software violates the Federal Communications Act, and damages can be based on the number of people who downloaded the software, with fines of up to $2,500 a pop sanctioned.

Read the entire judgment here... http://satfix.net/showthread.php?t=11276
-- and look below for key passages:

In lieu of actual damages and profits, a prevailing plaintiff under the DMCA may elect to recover "statutory damages for each violation of 1201 in the sum of not less than $200 or more than $2,500 per act of circumvention, device, product, component, offer, or performance of service, as the court considers just..."

The Court concludes that under the facts of this case, Plaintiffs are entitled to a permanent injunction. Plaintiffs have established that Ward's distribution of piracy software caused substantial and unquanifiable harm in that he enabled an untold number of end-users to circumvent the DISH Network security system and intersect copyrighted DISH Network programming. A permanent injunction is also necessary to prevent Ward from engaging in future wrongful conduct because Plaintiffs do not have an adequate remedy to prevent damage they would suffer by further infringement by Ward.