US prosecutors subpoena NDS in hacking probe Published: October 4 2002 9:13 | Last Updated: October 4 2002 9:13
The legal battle surrounding NDS intensified late on Thursday as the pay-TV technology company, controlled by News Corp, was served with subpoenas for documents from the US Attorney's office in San Diego, California. NDS said the investigation involves similar allegations to those made earlier this year by its rivals Canal Plus and EchoStar Communications, who have accused the company of industrial espionage and copyright infringement linked to piracy of rival satellite TV systems. NDS, which has denied the allegations as baseless, said it was cooperating fully with the federal investigation. In March this year, Canal Plus filed a $3bn lasuit against NDS, claiming the company broke its access code and posted it on the internet, allowing pirate organisation to gain illegal access to the satellite channels. EchoStar joined the suit last week, claiming NDS was behind widespread piracy of its Dish Network satellite TV system. It alleged the company had committed "acts of sabotage" to destroy EchoStar's competitiveness. On Tuesday the original lawsuit by Canal Plus was suspended, after its parent company Vivendi Universal signed a deal with News Corp to sell Telepiu, the Italian pay-TV arm of Canal Plus. Once the deal closes NDS said the suit would be dropped altogether. Echostar, however, is continuing its action against the company and has intervened to prevent either NDS or Canal Plus from detroying any evidence. NDS is fighting a separate lawsuit by Hughes's DirecTV subsidiary over breach of contract and fraud. http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119906573&p=1012571727088