Intellectual Property Law

Judge in Murdoch Hacker Trial Admonishes CEO

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

A California judge overseeing the trial against a Rupert Murdoch company for allegedly hacking a competitor and helping pirates steal pay-TV content, admonished the CEO of the Murdoch firm for leaving the court without testifying. As a result of the CEO's action, the judge suggested that if his company loses the trial it could face shareholder lawsuits.

Multichannel News reports that U.S. District Court Judge David Carter made the comments on Friday after temporarily halting the trial in mid-testimony and dismissing the jury.

Abe Peled, the CEO of NDS Group, a Uk/Israeli subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corporation, was scheduled to be a witness in the trial. His company, which makes access cards for pay-TV systems such as DirecTV, is accused by its competitor, NagraStar, of hacking NagraStar's access cards which are used to access pay content provided by EchoStar's Dish Network. NDS is accused of hacking the NagraStar cards in the late 90s and then releasing information and cards to pirates to allow them to access Dish Network's pay content for free.

Peled, who was born in Romania but educated in Israel, appeared in California for a taped deposition on April 30th, but left for London without testifying in person. He was scheduled to appear as a witness for NDS. According to the news account, NagraStar and its fellow plaintiff, EchoStar, had hoped to question Peled on the stand and had not subpoenaed Peled themselves because NDS had included him on its witness list.

The judge warned NDS that he would make an admonition to the jury about Peled's departure if the CEO didn't return. During a lunch recess, NDS contacted Peled but told the judge after the recess that Peled would not return to the court.

The judge responded that if NDS loses the case, "I can just imagine the shareholder lawsuits."

See also:

• Rupert Murdoch Firm Goes on Trial for Alleged Tech Sabotage
• Hacker in Murdoch Trial Acknowledges Receiving Money from Murdoch Firm

Full post as published by Threat Level on May 05, 2008 (boomark / email).