Court Holds U.S. Retailer Accountable for Promoting Piracy by Selling IPTV Streaming Devices with Unauthorized Channels
October 11 2017 - 1:05PM
Business Wire
- Court denies retailer’s attempt to use
bankruptcy filing to skirt liability
- Court instead ruled retailer must pay
DISH, TVB, CCTV and CICC $4.4 million for copyright and trademark
infringement
- Ruling underscores accountability of
all players involved in piracy and copyright infringement
A bankruptcy court in Florida has ruled that Amit Bhalla, a
retailer of IPTV streaming devices with unauthorized channels,
cannot use a bankruptcy case to shield himself from monetary
liability for copyright infringement.
In 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of
California issued a permanent injunction halting the unlawful
distribution of television content from programmers CCTV and TVB on
TVpad devices. DISH Network, which has exclusive rights to
distribute much of CCTV’s and TVB’s content in the United States
(including through its Sling TV OTT service), and CICC, an
affiliate of CCTV, were also plaintiffs in that underlying lawsuit,
which began in 2015. The plaintiffs alleged that the manufacturers
and distributors of the TVpad device set up a pirate broadcasting
network designed to stream CCTV and TVB channels without
authorization.
The court ordered manufacturers and distributors of TVpad to pay
$55 million in damages to DISH, TVB, CCTV and CICC, and the
injunction prohibited retailers from distributing, advertising,
marketing or promoting TVpad and comparable devices that deliver
CCTV’s or TVB’s copyrighted content.
Rather than accept responsibility for his actions, Amit Bhalla
chose to file for bankruptcy in an attempt to avoid being held
financially accountable. Citing Bhalla’s willful and malicious
conduct, the plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment in the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. The court
granted the motion, and Bhalla must now pay plaintiffs $4.4 million
for copyright and trademark infringement.
“This ruling sends an important message to retailers who think
they can get away with profiting off pirated content: you will
eventually be held accountable, and a bankruptcy filing will not
protect you,” said Samuel Tsang, vice president, Operations for TVB
USA. “Our hope is that, as a result of this ruling, retailers will
stop selling content obtained through illegal means and instead
serve their customers with legal, reliable content and
devices.”
About TVB USA
TVB USA’s parent company is Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB),
the largest and most popular producer of Cantonese-language
television programming in the world. TVB USA also offers various
TVB channels in Mandarin, Vietnamese and English to meet the
different needs of Chinese-speaking viewers in the U.S. All the
best programming from TVB that originally aired in Hong Kong and
Taiwan is broadcast by TVB USA in the United States on more than 10
different channels. Visit www.tvbusa.com.
About China Central
Television
China Central Television (CCTV) is the National Network of the
People’s Republic of China and it is one of China’s most important
news broadcast companies. Today, CCTV has become one of China’s
most influential media outlets. Currently CCTV is distributing
seven international channels in the U.S., which include Chinese,
English and Spanish, covering almost every aspect of the Chinese
social life. It is an important window for the world to find out
more about China. CCTV is making efforts to become a global media
network with increased international influence. Visit
www.cctv.com.
About DISH
DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), through its subsidiaries,
provides approximately 13.332 million pay-TV subscribers, as of
June 30, 2017, with the highest-quality programming and technology
with the most choices at the best value. DISH offers a high
definition line-up with more than 200 national HD channels, the
most international channels and award-winning HD and DVR
technology. DISH Network Corporation is a Fortune 200 company.
Visit www.dish.com.
Sling TV L.L.C., a subsidiary of DISH Network L.L.C., provides
over-the-top television services, including general market, Latino
and International live and on-demand programming. Sling TV is the
number one live over-the-top service based on the number of OTT
households as reported by comScore as of April 2017. It is
available on smart televisions, tablets, game consoles, computers,
smartphones and other streaming devices. Sling TV provides more
than 300 channels in 22 languages, including Cantonese, Mandarin,
Arabic and Punjabi. Visit www.Sling.com.
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