TV Signal Piracy Cases in Arizona

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.

Attorney Matthew Pare of the Law Office of Matthew Pare, APC has successfully defended many TV signal piracy cases throughout the state of Arizona.  Many of these lawsuits are in Phoenix or Tucson, although there have been similar claims brought throughout the state, even in very small towns.  The preferred venue that the plaintiffs file these lawsuits in is the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, and attorney Matthew Pare has been admitted pro hac vice to defend clients in that court.  

There are a great variety of approaches nationally that courts have used to determine the appropriate statute of limitations to federal TV signal piracy claims, given that the two relevant statutes (47 U.S.C. section 605 and 47 U.S.C. section 553) do not specify a limitations period.  The federal court in Arizona has applied the two-year statute of limitations adopted from the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (or “Wiretap Act”), 18 U.S.C. §§2510-2521.  Therefore, if a TV piracy claim is asserted regarding something shown on TV more than two years ago it will likely be time-barred in Arizona.

In most TV piracy cases the plaintiff has sufficient evidence to prove its case, and the relevant law is strict liability, meaning that the plaintiff does not need to show that the defendant knowingly did anything wrong.  Therefore, many of these types of cases settle.  However, the plaintiffs often take very unreasonable settlement positions, and under such circumstances attorney Matthew Pare has the expertise to fight the case in court to achieve the best results.  For example, in one such recent case the plaintiff’s settlement demand was literally ten times the amount that the judge ended up awarding the plaintiff after attorney Matthew Pare argued the damages issue to the court.  In that case by not settling and going through with the litigation and motions in court the defended got a great result with the help of Matthew Pare.

If you are facing a TV signal piracy claim or lawsuit in Arizona, contact attorney Matthew Pare immediately.  He has the experience to effectively defend you and your business in this lawsuit.  Mr. Pare is available for a free initial consultation and is actively defending TV piracy cases in Arizona.  He can be reached at 619-869-4999.

TV Signal Piracy