4 retailers named in a lawsuit launched by Super Channel deny the allegations
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Premium TV network Super Channel has filed a lawsuit against four Canadian retailers for allegedly selling “pirate devices” and educating customers how to use them to watch TV without paying for it.
In a court document filed in Federal Court this week, Super Channel accuses Best Buy, Staples, Canada Computers and London Drugs of copyright infringement, claiming their employees are “urging” customers to pirate online content using streaming devices that are sold in store.
The four retailers “are advertently contributing to the creation of a culture of widespread infringement and theft,” Super Channel alleges in the document. “Their actions are high-handed and unfair to their customers and causing damage to the plaintiff.”
Also listed as defendants in the lawsuit are customers who bought the “pirate devices” and received accompanying advice in store. They’re currently listed as “John Doe customers” because Super Channel doesn’t have their names, although it plans to pursue this information.
The network wouldn’t name each of the “pirate devices” involved, but said that the case includes Android boxes, which have become the scourge of the cable industry. When special software is added and the boxes are connected to TVs, they can be used to stream unauthorized content — including movies and TV shows that Super Channel owns the rights to in Canada.
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