Grey Market win !

[iratepirate]

See the article page A2 National Post...( sorry my Scanner is bi o tched tried to make it into an hu cloning device LOL)

Ontario appeal court rules unanimously that the federal Gov't cannot prohibit Canadians from purchasing foreign programming services. The article goes on further to state " it is not an offence to subscribe to foreign satellite programming". Congratulations Ms. Branton.

I guess there is no need to test anymore ;\ ( tongue in cheek)
but atleast us Canadians won't have to hide our dishes and won't have to whine for valid subs to clone !

[pokermike]

I haven't seen the article, but terrific news!

PokerMike

[gunsmoke2]

First I would like to mention that my Decison was handed in to the Ontario Court of Appeals by Allan Gold one of my attorneys :)

The Ontario Court of Appeals was so impressed and persuaded by my Decison they decided *NOT* to mention *ONE* word about it NADA. didn't even list it.

We might be filling a motion for request of reversal in my Decision..unfortunatly since he goes to the *SAME* Judge he is unlikely to reverse it.. but we will make him very aware of how much the Ontario Court of Appeals thought of his Decision *SQUAT* ;)

There is *NOT* much down side other than the cost :( but it should help my appeal assuming he does what we expect and maybe delay the sentence.

Here is the Article:



April 21, 2001


Grey-market dealers celebrate legal victory
Appeal Court rules government cannot prohibit service


Shannon Kari
Southam News
TORONTO - The Ontario Court of Appeal handed a sweeping legal victory to grey-market satellite dealers yesterday, ruling unanimously that the federal government cannot prohibit Canadians from purchasing foreign programming services.

The ruling upheld a lower court decision involving an RCMP raid of a grey-market satellite dealer in Lindsay, Ont. More than a dozen armed RCMP officers raided Tech Electronics and seized about $300,000 worth of equipment.

The Court of Appeal described the RCMP raid as "massive and unnecessarily over-inclusive."

The owner of the store, Dawn Branton, said yesterday the police operation was a traumatic experience. Police even seized the in-store security camera that captured the officers entering the building during the raid.

Despite the expense of a long legal battle, Ms. Branton said she was always confident the law was on her side. She suggested the legal proceedings were driven by a desire to reduce competition for Canadian direct-to-home satellite (DTH) providers. "They were wrapping themselves in the Canadian flag, but this was not about Canadian content, it was about making money," she said.

Writing for the Court of Appeal, Justice Karen Weiler found it is an offence under the federal Radiocommunications Act (RCA) to decode the signal of a Canadian DTH satellite provider without authorization. But the act does not apply to the legal purchase of foreign satellite programming.

Judge Weiler said it was not the intention of Parliament to allow police to use "the coercive powers to punish individuals and companies engaged in the reception of DTH satellite programming signals from foreign countries."

In reference to a similar ruling last September by the British Columbia Court of Appeal, Judge Weiler stated: "It is not an offense in Canada to subscribe to foreign satellite programming."

Alan Gold, Ms. Branton's lawyer, said he was pleased with the court's decision. "It couldn't be any clearer," he said. "In Ontario, it's the law that grey markets are legal."

Jim Thiessen, a spokesman for Industry Canada, said it was too early to comment on the Ontario ruling. He noted the Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear an appeal of the British Columbia decision. "We'll be looking at that with great interest."

Grey-market dealers allow Canadian consumers to set up a U.S. mailing address so they can purchase programming from U.S. satellite providers and watch such cable channels as HBO and ESPN.

There may be as many as a million grey-market satellite subscribers in Canada, about the same number of people who have signed up for Bell ExpressVu or Star Choice, the two Canadian services.

Dozens of stores have been raided in recent years as a result of Industry Canada's crackdown on grey-market operations.

ExpressVu has also been involved in a number of court cases, asking for legal sanctions against the grey-market operations.

"Their two-bit company can't compete," said Gloria Gibbins, the co-chair of the Satellite Communications Association, in reference to the programming offered by ExpressVu. As a result, she claimed the company is using its deep legal pockets to try to shut down the independent satellite dealers.

Officials from ExpressVu were not available for comment.

Ms. Branton is also suing the RCMP and Industry Canada for $3.5-million, alleging she was the victim of abuse of process and malicious prosecution.

She said yesterday she intends to celebrate the court ruling "by wrapping my arms around my daughter. I feel like my life is back."


GS2

PS.. Please follow this link to *READ* the Decision


http://www.dsschat.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=67311