Media rivals confirm legal action against global mode
Companies push ahead with action first-revealed by NBR.
Lightbox, Sky TV, MediaWorks and TVNZ have confirmed they are progressing legal action against Call Plus and ByPass Networks Services, alleging breach of copyright.
The joint statement follows yesterday’s NBR ONLINE report in which an insider details the plans for the case.
The insider said the court claim was expected Friday or Monday and that movie studios would also be involved.
NBR understands an injunction will not be sought but damages will be included in the claim.
At 5pm today (Friday), the High Court at Auckland had not yet received any claim.
A statement from the four media companies says they will bring claims in court “to shut down this unlawful service.”
“Call Plus and Bypass Network Services have both sought further information from us regarding the unlawfulness of global mode, which we have provided in good faith. However, our position has not changed and unless they remove the unlawful service we will begin court action in the next few days."
The statement says companies are “liaising with studios and content owners to determine how they might participate.”
“We are confident our legal position is strong. Companies who profit by marketing and providing access to content they haven’t paid for are acting unlawfully and in breach of copyright.
“Each of our businesses invests significant sums of money into the rights to screen content sourced legitimately from the creators and owners of that copyrighted material. This is being undermined by the companies that profit from promoting illegitimate ways to access that content."
The statement says the case is not about action against individual consumers but is about defending the value of content rights in the digital world.
Listen to court reporters Victoria Young and Hamish McNicol discuss the case in NBR Court Report here.
Victoria Young
Fri, 17 Apr 2015
Fri, 17 Apr 2015
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