The Denver Business Journal - 11:20 AM MDT Thursday

E*hoStar Communications Corp. and D*recTV Inc. have reached a $500,000 settlement in a lawsuit against Canadian Steve Souphanthong and various associates accused of illegally pirating E*hoStar’s DISH Network and other satellite TV services.

Souphanthong, who operated under the name B-Tech Distribution, was allegedly one of the largest manufacturers of piracy software and devices in North America.

The satellite TV providers filed a civil lawsuit against Souphanthong in Ontario Superior Court, claiming the piracy operation caused “serious damage” to the plaintiffs.

According to a statement released Thursday, Englewood-based E*hoStar and El Segundo, Calif.-based D*recTV will “continue to fight those who try to circumvent the security system by illegally intercepting the satellite signal being provided to legitimate customers.
Accused pirates agree to pay up

By Andy Vuong
Denver Post Staff Writer

Article Last Updated:10/12/2006 11:46:45 AM MDT

E*hoStar Communications said today that a settlement has been reached in a civil lawsuit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Steve Souphanthong and various of his relatives and associates, who have allegedly manufactured piracy devices.

Souphanthong agreed to pay $500,000 in damages, E*hoStar said.

E*hoStar, NagraStar, Bell Express Vu and D*recTV alleged that Souphanthong was one of the largest manufacturers of piracy devices in North America, and was engaged in manufacturing and selling devices that allowed users to steal satellite-TV signals.
DBS Pirate to Fork Over $500K

By Linda Moss, STAFF

(Multichannel News) _ A manufacturer of piracy devices agreed to pay $500,000 in damages to E*hoStar Communications, D*recTV and two other companies to settle a civil lawsuit, officials said Thursday.

The settlement was the end result of a lawsuit filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Steve Souphanthong, who does business as B-Tech Distribution, and several of his relatives and associates.

The plaintiffs — which also included NagraStar and Bell ExpressVu — alleged that Souphanthong was one of the largest manufacturers of piracy devices in North America, and that it was engaged in creating, manufacturing, selling, trafficking in and distributing piracy devices and piracy software.

Those devices included ROM X cards and ISO programmers for use against E*hoStar and Bell ExpressVu, as well as the Mikobu, Apollo 745 and Avenger line of products for use against D*recTV.

Souphanthong, his relatives and associates also operated several well-known piracy Web sites including dssstars.com, dssstyle.com, dssorbit.com, dssavenger.com, huaccess.com, mikobux.org and hugadgets.com.Searches of premises belonging to Souphanthong and his relatives in 2003 seized vast quantities of piracy devices, business records and computer files.

Copyright The Associated Press 2006. All Rights Reserved

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