- The court of the canton of Zug in Switzerland, convicts two sellers of pirate smartcards. The smartcards were devised to enable illicit reception of pay-television programmes.
Cheseaux, Switzerland, March 30, 2007 – On March 27 in Zug, Switzerland, two people were convicted for selling forged smartcards, which were devised to access pay-television programmes without paying for them. The conviction follows a complaint registered at the end of 2005 by the Kudelski Group and several other complainants. The complaint was initiated based on information published on the Internet.
“As a supplier of security solutions, we are satisfied with the verdict, which should stand out as a clear message for pirates out there”, confirmed Christophe Nicolas, Chief Security Officer of Nagravision SA, a division of the Kudelski Group. Nicolas added: “We engage the full range of our technological and legal means to combat television piracy.”
As well as ordering the defendants to pay a fine and bear costs, the Zug judge ordered that a pecuniary advantage obtained unlawfully was reason for a 20,000 Swiss francs compensation amount in favour of the State. The compensation claims of the plaintiffs were referred to the civil court. The two defendants were owners of a firm based in central Switzerland that was selling two different types of smartcards, both of which were declared illicit by the verdict. Used with a specific software that could be downloaded freely from the Internet, the smartcards enabled access to 2 pay TV packages, without having to pay the appropriate rights to the content providers.
The verdict will take effect in 10 days (starting March 27, 2007) if no appeal is lodged before then.
About the Kudelski Group
The Kudelski Group (SWX: KUD.VX), is a world leader in digital security. Its technologies are used in a wide range of applications requiring access control and rights management, whether for securing transfer of information (digital television, broadband Internet, video-on-demand, interactive applications, etc.) or to control and manage access of people or vehicles to sites and events. The Kudelski Group is headquartered in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland.
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