Judge Lets Broadcasters' Claims Against Dish Network Proceed in California

[CK SatGuy]

From Wall Street Journal:

A federal judge in New York ruled that TV broadcasters' lawsuits against Dish Network Corp.over its new ad-skipping feature can proceed in California, while letting some of Dish's claims in a related case proceed in New York.

The split ruling was good news for the broadcasters, which want their case against Dish to be heard in California.
The broadcasters sued Dish over an ad-skipping feature called "Auto Hop" the satellite TV firm released on a new digital video recorder this spring.
Dish had separately sued in New York, seeking a declaratory judgment affirming the legality of the technology.

Judge Lets Broadcasters' Claims Against Dish Network Proceed in California - WSJ.com

 

[whitewolf8214]

ty for sharing and interesting twist how pats can go forward in California and other parts in New York...very interesting

 

[Teehar]

Dang!That may not bode well for Dish in this case.Was hoping they could stick it to the broadcasters this time.Autohop may be a short lived feature.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Thats not good for DISH.

 

[Neutron]

Here come the higher fees once DISH loses this case and needs to recoup their legal fees....

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It might not be totally bad for DISH, if you notice it says it was a split ruling. It still could be that the AutoHop feature lawsuit would continue in New York, while the Illegal VOD lawsuit over Primetime Anytime might be heard in California.

I would really have to see the judges ruling for this one.

 

[Yespage]

It is probably good press for Dish regardless. Gives them the public image of trying to do something customers would love.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Dish has been doing very bad lately in the court system, I have a feeling this will turn out the same way. If you have a Kangaroo system in your house now, I wouldn't get too attatched to the auto-hop feature.

Lets just hope they are smart enough to realize that when they loose they can't just not renew the contracts with the networks when they expire. The crap they just pulled with AMC aint gonna go over with customers when it comes to the 4 major networks.

 

[sparc]

Broadcasters Cleared To Challenge Dish Networks' Ad-Zapping DVR In California - Deadline.com

The broadcasters can proceed with their copyright infringement and breach of contract cases against Dish’s Hopper DVR at a U.S. District Court in California.

Meanwhile, her court will hear some of Dish’s arguments about whether the AutoHop feature — which jumps past ads in shows recorded off the broadcast networks — simply automates what DVR users already do manually with their remote controls.

It almost seems like two different cases on AutoHop. One for Copyright infringement in CA and one on the technology itself in NY.

 

[navychop]

Did they draw a dotted line on that baby before they cut her in half?

 

[JM42]

Broadcasters Cleared To Challenge Dish Networks' Ad-Zapping DVR In California - Deadline.com
It almost seems like two different cases on AutoHop. One for Copyright infringement in CA and one on the technology itself in NY.

The article doesn't make a lot of sense. Need to see the ruling. The only point of the New York filing was to decide if AutoHop was a copyright infringement. The article says "copyright infringement and breach of contract" can proceed in LA. What's left for NY?

I don't know, but would think all the copyright issue would stay in one court or the other (NY in this case), and the contract issues and is PTAT a VOD service would stay be in LA. The copyright issue was almost just tacked on to the network's filings as an extra bullet point. The network suits were primarily focused on the contract/vod issues.

Splitting the case this way actually does make sense as they are two distinct issues.

I'm sure someone here will dig up a link to the ruling soon enough.

 

[mike123abc]

Ho hum... Now commences a year or 2 wait for some sort of trial, then countless appeals, tune back in for a result in about 5 years...

I do not see the networks getting a preliminary injunction, Dish could not put them out of business or cause irreparable harm during the trial.

 

[navychop]

I'm not sure they can show ANY harm. If they are paid by Nielson ratings, and those ratings only credit viewings within 24 hours, when autohop does not function, well........ No harm, no foul.

 

[sparc]

Judge skips N.Y. for AutoHop dispute - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety

But in her written opinion, Swain agreed that Dish's complaint was a "place-holder" suit and wrote that it was filed "in anticipation of coercive litigation and designed principally to secure Dish's preferred forum over any other forum selected by the natural plaintiffs." She noted that Dish's suit is "a mere 13 pages long, fails to name the parties who hold the copyrights, lists neither the relevant copyrights nor the contractual provisions at issue and contains only the most cursory description of the allegedly offending services."

 

[Hall]

Hah ! Sounds like a half-assed effort on Dish's part and they clearly did it way too quickly !! What's even more pathetic is their lawyers knew they threw something together quickly to get it filed but made no effort to revise their filing after it was in the system.

 

[teachsac]

Any lawsuit in CA or NY is not a good sign for dish.

S~

 

[nelson61]

An example of a basic failure by this judge to do one of her assigned duties. assure judicial efficiency and reduce judicial administrative costs by consolidating factfinding and judicial review of closely related subjects under the direction of one judge.

If she did too lazy or did not want a part of it she should have sent it all to california. Now, the taxpayers can pay for duplicating the presentation of facts in two separate courts

 

[cforrest]

I'll go pull the ruling from PACER now and post it! Give me a few minutes....

Ok, ruling is attached for everyone!

View attachment dish v. abc, et al.pdf

 

[Hall]

Man, I haven't seen a "WPD" file extension in a long time !

 

[navychop]

Man, I haven't seen a "WPD" file extension in a long time !

"It's an ANTIQUE!"
said the dentist....