Court Awards DISH Network(R), EchoStar and NagraStar $51 Million

[Scott Greczkowski]

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.

 

[eacalhoun]

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.

What the article did NOT say that as a result of this $51 million, we will reward our good and honest customers by not implementing ANY price increases as of February 1 or for the remainder of 2010.

 

[Cegarrett]

Does anyone actually think that Mr. Robert Ward actually has $51 millon dollars? or that echostar will ever get any of it. I'm sure that they won't ever see any of this.

 

[apollog]

Keep dreaming Charlie, you will never see a penny of this award. Our own country created something called Bankruptcy, which I'm betting $51 million that Mr. Robert Ward has already filed for. Piracy will never end because there are laws and provisions that defendants can still use even if they are found guilty, Bankruptcy is the main one and over seas accounts which the U.S. cannot touch even with court orders.

 

[mike123abc]

They will auction off anything he has, and will work to garnish his wages for quite some time. They will be lucky to get hardly anything, but it is to deter others from following in his footsteps.

 

[tornado]

People should not wear eye patches.

 

[dishcomm]

FTA theft of Dish sigs is just about dead.
Time for those who are not paying to get legit equipment.
We techs need the work.

 

[jacmyoung]

This of course is not about getting that $51M from him, rather sending a message.

 

[Claude Greiner]

This of course is not about getting that $51M from him, rather sending a message.

Exactly!

So this guy goes and files bankrupsy, and works under the table for the next several years.

But it does send out a strong message!

 

[DishSubLA]

Actually, I believe it is illegal to file bankruptcy for the purpose of avoiding a court award, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that bankruptcy would be denied or if approved the trustee can still put the party of a court award at head of the line. In fact, the actress Kim Bassinger tried to do just that to avoid paying a civil suit she lost, but the court denied he bid of bankruptcy, not because she had money, which on paper she didn't (they prepared for this) but that the judge ruled she was seeking bankruptcy to avoid paying the award.

So, no, bankruptcy does not necessarily get one out of having to "pay". The trustee can even set-up payments over time for the award. A fair number of these pirates actually do have some cash and even have a corporation or some degree of wealth, so A few dollars can be lost. However, as was stated, the value to Dish was the message.

 

[RVD420]

Actually, I believe it is illegal to file bankruptcy for the purpose of avoiding a court award, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that bankruptcy would be denied or if approved the trustee can still put the party of a court award at head of the line. In fact, the actress Kim Bassinger tried to do just that to avoid paying a civil suit she lost, but the court denied he bid of bankruptcy, not because she had money, which on paper she didn't (they prepared for this) but that the judge ruled she was seeking bankruptcy to avoid paying the award.

So, no, bankruptcy does not necessarily get one out of having to "pay". The trustee can even set-up payments over time for the award. A fair number of these pirates actually do have some cash and even have a corporation or some degree of wealth, so A few dollars can be lost. However, as was stated, the value to Dish was the message.

Unfortunately Robert Ward is in Florida, which has very liberal laws concerning bankruptcy, and the collection of judgments.

They are so liberal that after OJ was found not guilty he moved there to protect much of his assets, including his house, and pension money.

Dishnetwork will not see a dime.

 

[peaked]

Where's this guy at again? I think he needs a radical uninstall.

 

[stonecold]

1. this does not deter pirates as if i deter them dtv legal carpet bombing would of worked and it didnt.

2. Only thing that going to deter pirates is developing a system that cant be crack with out great expense to the priate to outlay to crack. This is what happened when DTV when from the most hacked card ( HU/P3 ) in the world to a near invincable one ( P4 later generations )
DTV has not seen any kind of piracy of this kind in so many years it is not funny. Hopefully Nagra 3 is just as tough as the p4 card in cracking and it will slow down and put a halt to rampant piracy and just leave them with the normal account stacking piracy.

 

[8bitbytes]

1. this does not deter pirates as if i deter them dtv legal carpet bombing would of worked and it didnt.

2. Only thing that going to deter pirates is developing a system that cant be crack with out great expense to the priate to outlay to crack. This is what happened when DTV when from the most hacked card ( HU/P3 ) in the world to a near invincable one ( P4 later generations )
DTV has not seen any kind of piracy of this kind in so many years it is not funny. Hopefully Nagra 3 is just as tough as the p4 card in cracking and it will slow down and put a halt to rampant piracy and just leave them with the normal account stacking piracy.

From what I have read, DirecTV paid a hacker to crack the DishNetwork encryption.

 

[navychop]

Yep. Echostar won in court, too, IIRC. Awarded a pittance, though.