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UK Legal Action A ruling in a UK court case could provide precedent for the effective banning of the commercial traffic in D2-MAC smartcards in the UK. The Football Association Premier League and others had taken a case against Vision On, a Birmingham based dealer over the sale of pirate D2-MAC cards that allowed users to watch Premier League football matches live on D2-MAC channels. According to www.sateuro.com the channel affected was Canal Plus Norway. Apart from the banning the sale of cards, it could mean that it would also be illegal to advertise such cards in UK publications. The ramifications for UK satellite television magazines is dire since many of them are financially dependent on such adverts. The critical piece of legislation was section 298 of the UK's Copyright Designs And Patents Act 1988. The ruling stated that VisionOn was prohibited from dealing in any smartcards that coudl be used to or enabled or assisted a person to receive the encrypted transmissions of the Premier League matches. It went further than just prohibiting VisionOn from selling smartcards - it also prohibited them from selling steerable satellite equipment or decoders that would be used with or in association with any smartcard to receive the channels. The ruling also mentioned that VisionOn could not provide information to people that would allow them to access the channel. Clearly the ruling is sticking to a literal interpretation of section 298 of the UK's Copyright Designs And Patents Act 1988. The descrambling equipment at the time that the law was framed was all hardware based. Smarcards were not in widespread use. The legislation was aimed at stopping the use of pirate decoders. Taken in a more modern context, a seemingly innocent D2-MAC decoder would be covered under this legislation. VisionOn was also ordered to give up it's customer records related to the sales and supply of D2-MAC cards. Over the next few months, anyone who shows up in these records may expect some notification. The knock on effect of this ruling on the already fragile UK satellite television press may be dire. Most of these magazines face stiff competition from BSkyB's own publication, which BSkyB subscribers receive directly. The reason that most people buy magazines like Satellite TV Europe and others is for the listings and the adverts. The reason that people buy What Satellite is largely for the adverts. It would be very easy for the Premier League and their lawyers to threaten these magazines over the adverts for D2-MAC cards and steerable dish equipment. As a result it would cut off a financial lifeline for these magazines. |
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