ABS-CBN sues Canadian firm for copyright breach

Media giant ABS-CBN Corp. sued a Canadian company and several individuals for distributing equipment that allowed viewers to illegally access its television shows and movies.

The broadcast firm filed a $5-million damage suit against Techspeed Canada Inc., Joe Baddas, Ferdinand Molina and Todd Ross before the Canadian Federal Court for copyright infringement, trademark infringement and enabling and inducing copyright infringement of its copyrighted works.

ABS-CBN said Techspeed Canada Inc. and the aforementioned individuals sold set-top boxes that allowed buyers to access hundreds of its copyrighted movies and TV shows they otherwise had to pay for through The Filipino Channel.

Officials of the company, based in Alberta, Canada, could not be immediately reached for comment.

In a statement, ABS-CBN assistant vice president and head of global antipiracy Elisha Lawrence alleged the respondents “were taking advantage of ABS-CBN’s premium subscription service through its digital platform, TFC.tv, by registering over 78 e-mails and distributing the usernames and passwords to hundreds of customers.”

“These customers were participating in this illegal activity by paying the Techspeed group and giving access to their credit card information,” Lawrence added.