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U.S. Appeals Court Finds No Civil Liability for Mere Possession of Pirate Access Devices
The United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit recently held on an interlocutory appeal that Section 2520(a) of title 18 of the U.S. Code which provides a civil remedy for the victim of the theft of an electronic communication does not create a private right of action against a person who merely possess a device used to intercept satellite transmissions. The trafficking of such devices is a criminal offence under Section 2512(1)(b) of title 18 of the U.S. Code.
DirecTV, Inc. ("DirecTV"), the plaintiff in the case, has launched thousands of actions in the United States against both the providers of pirate access devices and the consumers who have purchased them. This case involved the latter and was brought against an individual named defendant, Mike Treworgy ("Treworgy"), who purchased two pirate access devices over the Internet. As a result of the decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, DirecTV will now have to prove at the trial level that Treworgy intercepted DirecTV's satellite transmissions in violation of Section 2520(a) of title 18 of the U.S. Code.
For a copy of the decision, visit:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/circs/11th/0315313p.pdf
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