51 Million Dollar Judgment Against TDG/Robert Ward

[Gunsmoke2 - GS2]

The sumarry Judgment was entered against TDG for 51 million. I have attached two files. The judge concluded that software applied to 605(e)(4) as it dealt with devices and equipment but not software specifically.




GS2

[Gunsmoke2 - GS2]

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.




GS2

[Pam]

I glanced over the documents and what is unusual is the monetary award entered in a summary judgment. I party can lose in a summary judgment but usually damages are determined in a separate hearing. I'll read then more closely later.

Just so everyone understands how the orders are written, the attorneys write the documents for the judge to sign, not the judge. The judge signs the order the attorney has already written. A judge can demand that an order be changed, rewritten, before he signs it. The summary judgment was signed by the judge but written by the DN attorney.

What jumped out at me was "unrepresented parties." I wonder if Ward didn't have an attorney for the summary judgement and that's why a demand for a hearing on damages wasn't scheduled. This might have been a default judgement.

I'm sure that Ward, Smith or any of the other coder types will never pay a dime.

[oolloo]

why are you sure?


I'm sure that Ward, Smith or any of the other coder types will never pay a dime.

[Nasty_Nate]

To pay or not to pay is not really the question. The result is a complete break down of the way things once were in the FTA world. Not too many willing to risk it for the sake of free TV these days now is there and that was the goal of the providers. To secure by whatever means necessary the signal and to protect revenues.

Looks like they win this round.

Now who is going to come out with the next (it) thing to play the game once again is the real question. I doubt we will be seeing the usual suspects back under known names in the future. Look for new companies promising you the world, just be sure of what you are buying into. Sooner or later they too will fall to the wayside.