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 Post Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:04 am 
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U.S. satelltte company goes after Windsor O.N. man selling its signals

American satellite giant DTV is taking on a Windsor man for allegedly faking U.S. addresses, illegally acquiring subscriptions and equipment then selling them in Canada on the “grey market.”

The company has obtained a court injunction against Kent Haskell, who owned the store Can-Am Satellites, to stop him from selling its products in Windsor. DTV has also launched a lawsuit against him.

Spokesman Robert Mercer said the company has contractual obligations with programmers to ensure viewers only see specific programming in the area where DTV bought the rights to distribute it. They don’t have a licence to broadcast signals here.

“If it’s being seen in Canada, then we have a problem,” said Mercer.

“We have to take reasonable steps to make sure it’s not received outside the areas where we’ve purchased the right to distribute it. If we did nothing, we would have potential liability to those programmers. We’ve been sued by Canadian providers for that reason.”

DTV has launched a number of legal actions in Windsor in the past. DTV got an injunction against Haskell that remains in effect until the lawsuit is dealt with. A trial date has not been set. The company hasn’t stated the amount of damages it is seeking.

Haskell allegedly operated storefronts and websites in Windsor which he used to sell TV subscriptions. DTV claims that Haskell provided it with bogus addresses in the U.S. so he could subscribe to satellite services. He then sold the equipment and subscriptions to people in Windsor. It’s known as grey marketing.

Const. Annette Bernardon with Windsor RCMP said grey marketing has been an ongoing problem for years, but it hasn’t seemed as prevalent in the last year or two.

“That’s always been an issue, people getting addresses in the States then bringing them over,” she said.

Haskell isn’t facing any criminal charges from Windsor police or local RCMP. His Can-Am store no longer appeared to be operating at its former Tecumseh Road location this week, and the phone number was out of service. Haskell could not be reached for comment and his lawyer didn’t return phone calls.

DTV’s lawyer Christopher Bredt, a senior partner with Borden Ladner Gervais law firm, said the company can be sued if it doesn’t take action to stop grey marketers.

He said DTV was previously sued in Canada by the company now known as Sh*w Communications.

“They also leave themselves open to actions by the copyright owners in the United States,” said Bredt.

That’s why DTV takes such an “aggressive” stance on the issue, said Mercer.

“It’s obviously not about income we’re being deprived of since we don’t have a licence to operate in Canada,” he said. “It’s the costs we incur to prevent the illegal reception of DTV in Canada.”

He said those costs include hiring investigators and taking legal action. It’s been a “significant” ongoing issue wherever the company’s signal spills over the border, he said, but added it’s hard to say how big the grey market really is or how much revenue is involved.

He said the grey market blossomed after DTV more or less put an end to black marketers, who sold hacked access cards for pirating signals.

“We developed an unhackable smart card, so that put those guys out of business,” said Mercer. “Then we were able to focus more on the grey market areas.”


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