The Type of Establishment Matters in TV Piracy Cases

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Matthew Paré

The typical defendant in a TV signal piracy case is a small restaurant or bar. However, the most common plaintiff, J & J Sports Productions, Inc. takes the position that any exhibition of a pay-per-view fight that is not in a residential dwelling unit is subject to a lawsuit. There are many locations that fall outside your typical bar or restaurant scenario and are also not people’s homes, and this has given rise to an ambiguity in terms of whether the plaintiff has the rights to such exhibitions. For example, locations such as schools, churches, clubs, and organizations of various kinds have been sued for allegedly committing TV signal piracy when showing a pay-per-view fight and paying the residential price instead of the commercial license fee.

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TV Signal Piracy

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Mayweather v. Pacquiao Pay-Per-View Lawsuits

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Matthew Paré

The “Fight of the Century” took place on May 2, 2015, between Floyd Mayweather, Jr. v. Manny Pacquiao. It was a highly anticipated championship fight program. This particular event was record breaking in terms of the audience and in particular the number of pay-per-view purchases to watch the program. Any location, however, that is not a private residential dwelling unit had to pay the commercial licensing fee to lawfully watch the program. Throughout the country there were numerous commercial establishments that are now being sued for allegedly unlawfully exhibiting this fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao.

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TV Signal Piracy

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in the Los Angeles Area

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Matthew Paré

The United States District Court for the Central District of California has more TV signal piracy lawsuits filed in it than any other jurisdiction. Facing a TV signal piracy lawsuit in the Los Angeles area is a common problem for many small businesses in the area. This is also the venue in which attorney Matthew Pare has defended the most of these lawsuits, and he is very familiar with the procedures and judges in this Court with regard to TV piracy cases.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Virginia

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Matthew Paré

Over the years there have been many TV signal piracy cases filed in the state of Virginia. The most common plaintiffs are J & J Sports Productions, Inc., Joe Hand Promotions, Inc., and G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC. Typically the claim arises out of showing a pay-per-view fight (boxing or UFC) on TV in a commercial location without paying the correct price. Many of these lawsuits are filed by attorney W. Brian McCann at the McCann Law Firm, PLLC, in Henrico, Virginia.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Arizona

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Matthew Paré

Over the years there have been many TV signal piracy cases filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Most of these cases are filed by attorney Thomas Riley from South Pasadena, California, and the typical plaintiffs are J & J Sports Productions, Inc., Joe Hand Promotions, Inc., and G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC. As with the great majority of TV piracy cases, the underlying act that forms the basis of the lawsuit is showing a pay-per-view fight on TV in a commercial location without paying the correct price.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Louisiana

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Matthew Paré

The attorney who files most TV signal piracy lawsuits in Louisiana is Ronnie J. Berthelot of The Berthelot Law Firm, LLC in Baton Rouge, LA. Fortunately, on the defense side, attorney Matthew Pare has experience successfully defending TV piracy lawsuits throughout the state of Louisiana. If you are confronted with a lawsuit alleging violations of 47 U.S.C. section 605 and 47 U.S.C. section 553 based upon a claim of TV signal piracy, you need the representation of experienced counsel to defend you. Matthew Pare is that attorney and actively defends bars, restaurants, and other establishments in New Orleans and throughout Louisiana.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Colorado

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Matthew Paré

Throughout the state of Colorado attorneys Jacques S. Ruda and Robert O. Stapel of the law firm Girsh and Rottman, P.C. have filed many TV signal piracy lawsuits. This practice has continued for years where small businesses are sued for allegedly showing pay-per-view TV programming without paying the correct commercial license fee. These attorneys Jacques Ruda and Robert Stapel, based out of Denver, often work in connection with the Law Offices of Thomas P. Riley, PC regarding these claims. The typical plaintiffs are J & J Sports Productions, Inc. or G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC for boxing matches, and Joe Hand Promotions, Inc. for UFC fights.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Florida

Posted on October 13, 2015 by Matthew Paré

Florida is a state that has many TV signal piracy cases. The attorney that files a great majority of these lawsuits is Lewis J. Levey of the firm Levey Lieberman LLP in Miami, Florida. He works for and in connection with the national counsel for J & J Sports Productions, Inc., Thomas Riley, regarding pay-per-view boxing matches. Lewis Levey also often represents Joe Hand Promotions, Inc. regarding the unauthorized exhibition of UFC fights. To say that attorney Lewis Levey is experienced in these matters would be an understatement as he has filed and litigated hundreds of similar cases over many years.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Missouri

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Matthew Paré

There are two United States District Courts in Missouri. Attorney Matthew Pare has defended TV signal piracy cases in both of them, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. The law firm that often files these lawsuits on behalf of the plaintiffs is the Vogler Law Firm, P.C. in St. Louis, MO, although the attorney Vincent Vogler works closely with and for the national counsel Thomas Riley out of the Law Offices of Thomas P. Riley, P.C. in South Pasadena, California. Attorney Matthew Pare has experience going up against both Mr. Vogler and Mr. Riley in courts in Missouri on behalf of defendants in TV piracy lawsuits.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Georgia

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Matthew Paré

Over the years attorney Ronald D. Reemsnyder has filed literally hundreds of TV signal piracy cases in the federal courts in Georgia. Mr. Reemsnyder’s office is located in Dawsonville, GA, although he works closely with the plaintiff’s national counsel on these matters, the Law Offices of Thomas P. Riley, P.C. in South Pasadena, California. Typically Mr. Riley’s office handles the pre-litigation demands and negotiation, and then retains Ron Reemsnyder’s firm, Ragsdale, Beals, Seigler, Patterson & Gray, LLP, to litigate the matters that end up in court.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in New York

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Matthew Paré

There have been many TV signal piracy lawsuits filed in federal courts in the state of New York. The bulk of these lawsuits have been filed by attorney Paul J. Hooten of the law firm Paul J. Hooten & Associates. Paul Hooten is based out of Mt. Sinai, New York, and has been filing TV piracy lawsuit for many years. Mr. Hooten works in conjunction with the Law Offices of Thomas P. Riley in litigating these matters. Given this experience, if you are facing a TV signal piracy case in New York you need an experienced attorney who specializes in defending this type of case to effectively defend you. Attorney Matthew Pare has defended TV piracy cases in federal courts throughout New York and has successfully defended cases there, both in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Wisconsin

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Matthew Paré

There have been many TV signal piracy lawsuits filed in federal courts in the state of Wisconsin. The bulk of these lawsuits have been filed by attorney Peter S. Balistreri of the law firm Dubin & Balistreiri, Ltd. Mr. Balistreri has been doing this for many years, and he works in conjunction with the Law Offices of Thomas P. Riley in litigating these matters. Given this experience, if you are facing a TV signal piracy case in Wisconsin you need an experienced attorney who specializes in defending this type of case to effectively defend you. Attorney Matthew Pare has been admitted to practice in federal courts throughout Wisconsin and has successfully defended TV piracy cases there.

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TV Signal Piracy

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TV Signal Piracy Cases in Texas

Posted on August 23, 2015 by Matthew Paré

Texas is one of the states with the most TV signal piracy cases. J & J Sports Productions, Inc., for example, has filed hundreds of lawsuits in federal courts throughout Texas. The other common plaintiff, Joe Hand Promotions, Inc., is also a frequent litigator in Texas, as well as G & G Closed Circuit Events, LLC. The great majority of these lawsuits are filed by The Korn Diaz Firm and its attorneys David M. Diaz and Andrew R. Korn, working in conjunction with the Law Office of Thomas P. Riley. The attorneys David Diaz and Andrew Korn are some of the most experienced and knowledgeable litigators in the field of TV signal piracy anywhere in the county. Fortunately, attorney Matthew Pare has been admitted to practice in federal courts throughout Texas and has had great success in defending TV signal piracy cases there.

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TV Signal Piracy

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The Details of the Commercial License Agreement Can Be a Defense

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Matthew Paré

In order to have standing to sue, the plaintiffs in TV signal piracy cases must have proprietary rights in the TV program. The relevant statute requires the plaintiff as an aggrieved party to have those proprietary rights; in other words, the plaintiff must have ownership of intellectual property rights regarding that TV program. This is common sense because it would be illogical for a company to be suing people and businesses for showing something on TV that it did not have any rights to itself. Significantly, however, the plaintiffs in TV signal piracy cases do not always have the proprietary rights that they claim to and the lack of those rights can be a very effective defense in some cases.

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TV Signals from Mexico

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Matthew Paré

For those people in the United States near the border with Mexico there is a unique and very important defense in TV signal piracy cases when the signal comes from Mexico. There are Mexican TV stations, including TVAzteca and Televisa that broadcast boxing matches on the airwaves, often on a delay, for television events that are pay-per-view in the United States. Because these broadcasts are over the traditional publically available airwaves and given the proximity to the border, it is possible to receive such programming in the United States for free simply using an old-fashioned bunny ears antenna on the TV. If that is how you or your business received the signal you have a good defense and should not needlessly settle such a claim.

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Do Not Ignore a TV Piracy Lawsuit

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Matthew Paré

The thought often crosses people’s minds as to whether or not to simply ignore a TV signal piracy lawsuit. Ignoring a lawsuit is a very bad idea. Some people may think that they cannot afford an attorney to defend them in the lawsuit, but the reality is that the attorney’s fees charged by the Law Office of Matthew Pare, APC, for example, are quite manageable. Some people may be unclear or confused as to what the appropriate response to the lawsuit is, especially given that the summons does not specify a court date, but that is exactly why it is necessary to hire knowledgeable counsel. Some people may believe that the plaintiff will not be able to prove its case, but that is a misguided hope because in virtually every TV signal piracy case the plaintiff has sufficient evidence.

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Why TV Piracy Cases Do Not Go to Trial

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Matthew Paré

Statistically, far over 99% of TV signal piracy cases either settle or are decided by the court on a motion instead of going to trial. This is true of TV signal piracy cases especially, but it is also the case that civil litigation cases across the board typically do not end up going to trial. There are very good reasons that most TV piracy cases do not go to trial, as will be explained in this article.

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TV Signal Piracy

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Suing the TV Service Provider or Others

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Matthew Paré

When faced with a large claim against you and you feel you did nothing wrong it is only natural to want to point the finger at others in your defense. In the context of a typical TV signal piracy case this idea comes up in the form of defendants wanting to sue the satellite or cable TV service provider for improperly setting up the account and installing it wrong at the place of business. When the account is set up wrong it is easy for TV programming to be shown without paying the correct commercial price. While bringing a third-party claim is something to consider, in most cases it is not advisable to pursue that third-party complaint, for the reasons discussed below.

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The Possibility of Subpoenas in TV Piracy Cases

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Matthew Paré

Imagine this: You have been sued for allegedly committing TV signal piracy regarding one boxing match that you showed at a place of business. You know that for many years you have been using a residential TV account at the place of business and did not think it was a problem, but over the years you have shown perhaps a dozen or so pay-per-view fights. The plaintiff has made an exorbitant settlement demand just for the one known violation. The plaintiff’s attorney threatens that with additional litigation they will send subpoenas to the TV service providers to get to the bottom of the true extent of the violations and then amend the complaint to include numerous additional violations, making the settlement position go up. It may seem that you should quickly settle to avoid the possibility of the situation snowballing out of control to something that would be unmanageable. This is where the expertise of an experienced TV signal piracy attorney is necessary.

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TV Signal Piracy

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The National Expert is Better Than a Local Attorney

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Matthew Paré

In the olden days many people typically knew a local attorney who they might go to for a wide variety of legal issues, someone they considered to be their attorney in general. That local attorney might find himself helping with a family law issue one day, and a criminal law issue the next, for example, demonstrating a breadth of knowledge regarding the law but not truly an expert on any particular topic. The times have changed.

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TV Signal Piracy

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The Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao Fight on May 2, 2015

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Matthew Paré

The Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquao fight on May 2, 2015, was one of the most anticipated boxing events ever, and the most widely viewed on television. The amount of revenue associated with this event in one form or another is truly staggering. It was described as the Fight of the Century. Many people who seldom if ever watch boxing or purchase a pay-per-view television program were drawn to watch this event.

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TV Signal Piracy

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Is it Okay if I do not Charge a Cover?

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Matthew Paré

A common misconception in TV piracy cases and showing pay-per-view programming in general is that it is okay for commercial establishments to show this type of programming on TV and pay the residential rate as long as they do not charge a cover charge. That is simply not true.

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TV Signal Piracy

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The Internet Defense to TV Piracy Cases

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Matthew Paré

The two federal statutes (laws) that apply to TV signal piracy cases were drafted long before the internet was widely used, and certainly before it was used by the public to stream videos. The relevant statutes basically apply to theft of cable TV service (47 U.S.C. section 553), and theft of a satellite TV signal (47 U.S.C. section 605). Therefore, if someone receives video programming via the internet that means of transmission falls outside of the coverage of these statutes and is essentially a defense in an alleged case of TV signal piracy.

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TV Signal Piracy

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How Did they Find Me?

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Matthew Paré

A very common question that comes up in TV signal piracy cases is how did they find me? The establishment may essentially be in the middle of nowhere, with only a handful of people there, and shocked when they receive a demand letter or lawsuit regarding the alleged unauthorized exhibition of TV programming. This article explains how the system works and how the investigators found out.

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TV Signal Piracy

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Being Named Individually in a TV Piracy Case

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Matthew Paré

One of the most surprising and frustrating things in TV signal piracy cases is that the business owner is named individually as a defendant, even if there is a business entity such as a corporation or LLC. The reason that business owners go to the trouble of forming a corporation or LLC, after all, is in large part to avoid the potential for personal liability for lawsuits or other claims against them related to the business, so being sued individually can be shocking. Being named individually as a defendant in a TV piracy case also means that your personal assets are at stake.

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TV Signal Piracy

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Bankruptcy is Not a Good Solution to TV Signal Piracy Debt

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Matthew Paré

In short, filing for bankruptcy is not the solution to a TV signal piracy problem. Given that the plaintiff’s initial demands are well into the tens of thousands of dollars and the modest amount of money that many defendants in TV signal piracy cases have, the possibility of bankruptcy is a common question. There are two major reasons why filing for bankruptcy is not the answer, however, as this article will discuss.

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TV Signal Piracy

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