Streaming Defendants Deny Dish’s Allegations of Infringement, DMCA Violations

The five defendants alleged by Dish Network and Sling TV in a Jan. 24 complaint to have sold set-top boxes for two illicit streaming services that capture and retransmit Dish and Sling television programming without authorization deny they violated the anti-trafficking provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or committed trademark infringement under the Lanham Act, said their answer Thursday (docket 1:24-cv-00340) in U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia in Atlanta. The plaintiffs’ claims are barred because the defendants “had no prior knowledge that a product or mark was being infringed upon,” said their answer. The defendants acquired the rights to sell or distribute the product or services “through a purported wholesaler, vendor or supplier,” it said. The defendants didn’t “knowingly or intentionally use, sell or distribute an infringing product or mark in commerce or have reason to know that any such marks or products were infringing,” it said.