Dish Network lawsuit vs. Sonicview

[pwrsurge]

I guess it's now official, Dish Network is sueing Sonicview. With the successful verdict against Coolsat, this case should be a piece of cake for them.

From Sonicview USA


Dear FTA Community:
SonicView has recently learned that DISH Network, Echostar and Nagrastar have filed a civil lawsuit in Federal Court in California against Sonicview and three other related individuals. SonicView intends to vigorously defend against the baseless claims made by DISH. SonicView has already retained experienced litigation counsel to help them fight these false accusations.
It has also been brought to the attention of SonicView that some of its competitors have been improperly making contact with SonicView’s distributors, dealers and customers, and maliciously conveying misleading information to them. They have falsely stated that SonicView’s distributors, dealers and customers are being raided and their inventory seized, and have intimated that SonicView’s distributors, dealers and customers may be liable or named in a lawsuit filed against SonicView.

Let’s be absolutely clear — only SonicView and three related individuals have been named in the lawsuit. None of SonicView’s distributors, dealers or customers have been sued or even identified in the allegations of the Complaint, nor are they named on any supposed list. The Federal Court has not awarded any relief whatsoever to either DISH, Echostar or Nagrastar. SonicView is confident that it will prevail if the lawsuit proceeds, and we (or our lawyers) will keep all of you informed of any significant developments in the future.

Your continued business is very important to SonicView. Indeed, SonicView’s success is largely dependent on you because you have worked with SonicView to make it a top selling FTA receiver. There is a reason why SonicView has been a success – the quality of the products and our customer service. You have made a choice to purchase and use the SonicView line because the quality and customer service is unmatched in the industry. It is clear that those unknown persons disparaging SonicView do so only in a misguided attempt to promote their own products – products that cannot match the quality of SonicView. SonicView intends to continue supplying products that you and your customers demand, products that continue to flourish in the growing FTA industry.
Respectfully,

Manuel de la Cerra, Esq.
6885 Catamaran Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92011
Attorney for SonicViewUSA, Inc.

 

[pwrsurge]

Here's the PDF of the lawsuit. Note that they mention:

- Pirate firmware for the SV8000 being posted by mistake for at least 1 month on sonicviewusa.com

- Proprietary Nagravision code found when examining the contents of most SonicView firmware, even so called "factory" firmware.

- 8PSK boards for the SV8000 are only able to receive Turbo modulation channels which are used by Dish Network. The boards are not able to receive 8PSK on DVB-S2 channels.

Sounds like a pretty solid case to me. I don't think they have a chance.

 

[toucan-man]

Slam dunk for Dish. Once this and any other pending lawsuits are over maybe our hobby can chug along on it's true path in relative obscurity, but unimpeded.

It will be interesting to see who Does 1 - 50 are. There were some really bold actors out there in the recent past.

 

[Tron]

Our hobby is going to get far more expensive when all consumer FTA receivers are rendered "illegal" and we have to purchase professional models that run into four digit pricetags...

 

[toucan-man]

Our hobby is going to get far more expensive when all consumer FTA receivers are rendered "illegal" and we have to purchase professional models that run into four digit pricetags...

The receiver makers that have been knocked out of the ballpark brought it upon themselves. How more blatant could they be? It remains to be seen who else had their fingers in the cookie jar, but "all" of them clearly did not.

 

[tvropro]

Dish network lives in court, they have to find something to do to support there lawyers. Today it's attack the FTA receiver makers. Tomorrow after they kill off the FTA receiver makers, they will be suing there subscribers for one thing or another.

I for one would love to see Dish fall for what they have done with there lies and cheats to C band subscription and it's subscriber base. Before they were around things were good. I wish they would crawl back under the rock they crawled out from under.

 

[cracklincrotch]

I agree, that they'll do what Dave did a few years back. Although I think he got slapped, on the wrist, for it.

 

[guapoharry]

Our hobby is going to get far more expensive when all consumer FTA receivers are rendered "illegal" and we have to purchase professional models that run into four digit pricetags...

That could be. But, in this instance I'm putting my wager on the Chinese. They will continue making money in ways that include selling FTA receivers unless there's a federal ban...

 

[apollog]

That news article is OLD, Dish Network already went to court on this and LOST ROYALLY. The Score is Sonicview 10 Dish Network 0. Long LIVE FTA

 

[Wescopc]

That news article is OLD, Dish Network already went to court on this and LOST ROYALLY. The Score is Sonicview 10 Dish Network 0. Long LIVE FTA

I am not sure where you got your information, I believe that all that has happened so far on this case is motions. The motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) was denied:

By Samuel Howard

Law360, New York (July 27, 2009) -- Dish Network LLC has failed to put an
immediate stop to Sonicview USA’s alleged pirating of satellite
television programming, as a federal judge has refused to grant a
temporary restraining order without first notifying the defendants of
the allegations.
On Thursday, Judge M. James Lorenz of the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of California said the plaintiffs had established
the probability of prevailing on claims that Sonicview violates Dish
Network’s copyright protections, but he decided against issuing an ex
parte TRO and seizure order as it would effectively shutter the
defendants’ business.

But the case is far from being decided, that will proably take a year or so.
Bob

 

[Bouncy64]

In the meantime Sonicview will chug along, doing what they do best, Personally I think even though the judiciary will hear the case, it is also getting tired of DN's B.S. which may play a part in Sonicview doing better than expected.
It has been pointed out in more than one instance that really all DN is doing is cornering the FTA industry eliminating the compitition, so to speak.
If DN was to try to get the judiciary to not allow which ever reciever into the USA, there is no way to block all recievers, all the manufacturers will do is too change the name, and use a different importer. Also because the countries that border the USA will allow the same imports to be done, there is really no way to stop this and would be simply a nightmare to try, they would be stomping on constitutional rights, and that will not be allowed for and company, even though DN may think they can try.
Even though some receiver distributers have made a couple of whoops, that has cost them dearly, there are those that have not, and have kept themselves very much seperate from so called third party providers, which have allowed these or for the most part any reciever to aquire major providers signals.
Dn may be able to take a few of these recievers off the market, but in the end it will be the enduser that will still prevail. Will always find a way to recieve providers signals, it has been the same ever since there was a FTA industry, and the simple fact that there is way too much money to be made will keep the FTA industry chugging along albeit at a slower pace. But as we have found out from the past, it wont stop it, money speaks louder than DN ever will be able too, where one importer, or manufacturer is shut down, there will always be another to take it's place. As Dn continues to procecute, the more enemies they make, and the more the likleyhood that N3 will be cracked, or N4 or what ever type of encryption they try, as the old addage goes, if man made it, then man can break it, or at the very least find a way around it.
Now also DN and the other major providers will have IPTV to contend with, and that is a whole different ball game, one that even the great and all powerful DN will not be able to stop, as all a person needs is a legit sub. and with a few tweaks, and some freely available equipment, and you have the availability of what ever providers signals available to whom ever.
Even TV manufacturers have jumped on the band wagon and will be or already have started making TV's that are capable to connect directly to the internet.
Slow down the piracy yes, but stop it, no matter how hard, they will not prevail, in so long as there is a market for it.

 

[LocutusOfBorg]

As Dn continues to procecute, the more enemies they make, and the more the likleyhood that N3 will be cracked, or N4 or what ever type of encryption they try, as the old addage goes, if man made it, then man can break it, or at the very least find a way around it.

It's possible to crack it but they usually employ some kind of countermeasures to plug the hole - i.e. the smart card reader. And they'll go after websites that post the method of breaking the encryption. Whether they actually go after anybody will depend on whether or not it's cost effective to do so. Anyway, extending this to 4DTV encryption, if it could have been broken it would have already have been done but since it hasn't been done it can be said that cracking the encryption is non-trivial. That may be case for Nagravision as well. Besides, who wants to go to prison and/or get a hefty fine for hacking this stuff anyway.