The long spat between Echostar and conditional access specialists N.D.S. resulted in a Court decision against N.D.S. of a trifling $45, and nowhere near the $95m that Echostar was seeking. However, N.D.S. will face an injunction that prohibits N.D.S. from engaging in illegal conduct as found by the jury. We reported on the case's verdict back in May. Now the full Court ruling is to hand.
The Court found that in the 1996-7 period both Echostar and rival DirecTV were suffering piracy of their smart card systems "including substantial piracy of the DirecTV system provided by N.D.S." stated Court documents (which have just been unsealed and can be read in full at http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/10/20/EchoStar46.pdf ).
Echostar decided on a complete card swap-out of their N.a.gr.a. Kudelski-supplied smart cards in 2005, which cost the broadcaster $94.6m. Echostar (and Kudelski) filed suit against N.D.S., seeking to hold N.D.S. responsible for the cost of card swap-out and alleging that certain web-postings by N.D.S. contacts necessitated that swap-out. N.D.S. filed a counterclaim.
Earlier this year a jury found that N.D.S.:
a. N.D.S. did not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
b. N.D.S. did violate the Communications Act;
c. N.D.S. did violate the California Penal Code ßß 593d(a) and 593e(b);
d. N.D.S. did not violate the Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO) and
e. EchoStar did not violate the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act
District Judge David Carter awarded actual damages of just $45.69 against N.D.S., and the minimum statutory damages of $1000 under the Communications Act verdict, and a further $500 on the Penal Code verdict.
More importantly for the overall credibility of N.D.S. the jury did not find that N.D.S. had acted with ìoppression, fraud or malice and did not engage in a conspiracy.
Echostar further claimed that N.D.S. had acted unfairly and used unlawful business practices, and it is this element that has now been determined by the Court with an injunction. Echostarís claim of $94.63m (the cost of the card swap) was "defective on a number of grounds" said the judge's finding.

Source: Rapid TV News 2008

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