NDS Exonerated in Court
LONDON UK – May 15, 2008 – Today
the jury in the US District Court for the Central District of
California overwhelmingly exonerated NDS Group companies in the
lawsuit brought by Echostar and Nagrastar, a joint venture company
between Echostar and Kudelski Group. The level of damages claimed
by the plaintiffs, widely reported as amounting to over $1 billion,
has ultimately resulted in an award in actual damages of $45.69
or, in statutory damages, of $1000, relating to a single incident
involving a test card used by NDS.
NDS is pleased that the four-week long trial in which NDS
faced baseless allegations, widely repeated and exaggerated
to suggest the involvement of our majority shareholder News
Corporation, has ended in a resounding affirmation of NDS and
its business ethics and proper conduct.
NDS has been at the forefront of fighting pay-TV piracy for
the last decade, on the technological front, as well as on the
legislative and law enforcement fronts. We have invested hundreds
of millions of dollars to achieve our current record of zero
piracy. We have stated consistently throughout the course of
this trial that the piracy of Echostar was the result of inferior
technology arising from inadequate investment in research and
development by Kudelski. This position has been validated with
today’s verdict.
About NDS
NDS Group plc (NASDAQ: NNDS), a majority owned subsidiary of
News Corporation, supplies open end-to-end digital technology
and services to digital pay-television platform operators and
content providers. See www.nds.com for
more information about NDS.
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Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-looking
Statements
This document may contain certain “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management’s
views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance
as of the time the statements are made. Actual results may differ
materially from these expectations due to changes in global economic,
business, competitive market, regulatory and other factors. More
detailed information about these and other factors that could affect
future results is contained in our filings with the US Securities
and Exchange Commission. Any “forward-looking statements” included
in this document are made only as of the date of this document
and we do not have any obligation, nor do we undertake, to publicly
update any “forward-looking statements” to reflect
subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.
For further information:
| NDS |
|
| Cynthia Ritchie |
T: +44 (0)20 8476 8378 |
| Director, Corporate Communications |
critchie@nds.com |
| |
|
| Breakaway Communications for NDS |
T: +1 212 616 6006 |
| Kelly Fitzgerald, Managing Partner |
kfitz@breakawaycom.com |