Dish Network LLC. v. Jadoo TV, Inc.

District Court, N.D. California·Decided June 13, 2023·No. 3:20-cv-01891·Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 8 DISH NETWORK L.L.C., Case No. 20-cv-01891-CRB

9 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DISH MOTION 10 v. FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT, DENYING SOHAIL MOTION FOR 11 JADOO TV, INC., et al., SUMMARY JUDGMENT 12 Defendants.

13 In this copyright infringement case, Plaintiff DISH Network L.L.C. (“DISH”) sued 14 Defendants Sajid Sohail and Jadoo TV, Inc. (“Jadoo”), a company that sells set-top boxes and 15 mobile applications that consumers use to receive television channels. DISH alleges that 16 Defendants violated 17 U.S.C. Section 501 by illegally transmitting television channels and 17 content exclusively licensed by DISH. DISH brings claims for direct, contributory, and vicarious 18 infringement. Because Sohail is the founder, CEO, and majority shareholder of Jadoo, DISH 19 alleges that Sohail is personally liable for the alleged infringement. 20 DISH and Sohail bring cross-motions for summary judgment or, in the alternative, 21 summary adjudication.1 DISH Mot. (dkt. 242); Sohail Mot. (dkt 243). Because there are no 22 genuine disputes of material fact as to Jadoo’s and Sohail’s liability for direct, contributory, and 23 vicarious infringement, the Court GRANTS DISH’s motion as to all claims, and DENIES Sohail’s 24 motion as to all claims. 25 26 27 I. BACKGROUND2 1 A. Jadoo’s Service 2 In 2008, Sohail founded Jadoo “to bring internet-based South Asian and multicultural 3 television, movies, and music to audiences from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and the 4 Middle East at an affordable price.” Sohail Mot. Ex. 143 (dkt. 243-14) ¶ 7. 5 When launching Jadoo, Sohail entered into agreements with channels to stream their 6 programs through its service. Id. ¶ 22. Jadoo sold set-top-boxes (“STBs”), which are computing 7 devices able to receive video signals and translate them for viewing on a television screen. 8 Defendants Opp’n Ex. 20 (dkt. 257-20) ¶ 18. Jadoo’s STBs run on an Android operating system. 9 Id. Jadoo contracted with a third party, Altair Technologies, to develop software for its three 10 features: eMedia, Video on Demand, and LiveTV (collectively, “the Service”). DISH Mot. Ex. 2 11 (dkt. 242-2) Apx.4 at 201:9–22; 204:22–205:2. 12 The content on Jadoo’s Video on Demand (“VOD”) largely came from publicly available 13 links, such as those on YouTube and Dailymotion. Defendants Opp’n Ex. 1 (dkt. 257-1) ¶ 25. 14 Jadoo released eMedia in 2015 to allow users to add content to their STBs from the internet or 15 external media devices. Id. ¶ 27. Faisal Abdullah, head of engineering for Jadoo and employee of 16 Altair Technologies, oversaw a team of approximately 20 software developers in designing and 17 implementing all software applications for the company, including eMedia. Id. ¶ 28. The 18 engineering team decided to use XML files5 to add content to Jadoo and to host it with Github.6 19 Id. Jadoo advertised eMedia as a tool for users to upload and watch content that was not licensed 20 by Jadoo. DISH Mot. Ex. 2 at 357 (“Calling Content Providers & Developers to Add Content to 21 the Jadoo4 Box. Calling Users to Aggregate Content in One Easy Place.”). Finally, eMedia 22 integrated user-uploaded content into the LiveTV and VOD sections of Jadoo. Id. at 240:11– 23

24 2 The facts in this section are not in genuine dispute. 3 Citations to exhibit numbers are to the ECF attachment/ docket number, not the exhibit number 25 used by the parties. 4 Citations are to the Appendix page numbers used by DISH in the attachments to its motion. 26 5 XML stands for “eXtensible Markup language,” which is a “human and machine readable” language, and “a standard way of exchanging information.” DISH Mot. Ex. 7 (dkt. 242-7) at 1298 27 n.23. 1 241:9. 2 B. Alleged Infringement 3 Since September 2016, DISH has sent Jadoo notices of infringement that identified the 4 locations in the LiveTV, eMedia, and VOD sections of the Service that contained channels that 5 DISH had the exclusive right to perform (“Protected Channels”). DISH Mot. Ex. 2 11 ¶ 15. 6 Sohail confirms that he knew in 2016 that users were sharing the Protected Channels through 7 eMedia. Id. Ex. 2 at 263:16–264:6. 8 DISH owns 97 works registered with the U.S. Copyright Office (“Registered Works”). Id. 9 Ex. 15 (dkt. 242-15) at 2881–82 ¶ 8 (12 Works); Id. Ex. 16 (dkt. 242-16) at 3059 ¶ 9 (3 Works); 10 Id. Ex. 17 (dkt. 242-17) at 3202 ¶ 8 (14 Works); Id. Ex. 22 (dkt. 242-22) at 3641–45 ¶ 6 (55 11 Works); Id. Ex. 2 at 10–11 ¶ 14 (13 Works). DISH also owns 159 works not registered but 12 otherwise protected (“Unregistered Works”). Id. Ex. 15 at R2880 ¶ 6 (13 Works); Id. Ex. 16 at 13 3056–59 ¶¶ 7–8 (38 Works); Id. Ex. 17 at 3197–3202 ¶¶ 6–7 (52 Works); Id. Ex. 22 at 3645–46 ¶ 14 7 (17 Works); Id. Ex. 30 (dkt. 242-30) at 5086 ¶ 9 (16 Works); Id. Ex. 31 (dkt. 242-31) at 5225–27 15 ¶¶ 6–7 (23 Works). Jadoo’s users uploaded all of the Registered Works and Unregistered Works 16 (collectively, “the Works”) to the Service, including in the South Asian Super Pack (“SASP”).7 17 Jadoo’s users performed the Works in the SASP (“SASP Works”) in the US over the internet on 18 the Service more than 2,616 times between February 22, 2016 and August 6, 2019. DISH Mot. 19 Ex. 8 (dkt. 242-8) at 1459 ¶ 16. The SASP Works include 93 Registered Works and 154 20 Unregistered Works. Id. at 1457–58 ¶ 12; 1786–1806 (Registered Works at rows 1–93, 21 Unregistered Works at rows 94–247). Jadoo’s users also performed VOD Works, again without 22 DISH’s permission, including 18 Registered Works and 5 Unregistered Works. Id. at 1458–59 ¶¶ 23 13–14, 17; 1791–1806 (Registered works at rows 248–72, Unregistered Works at rows 273–77). 24 Jadoo sold its model Jadoo5s STBs preconfigured to automatically locate and install 25 SASP, including the Works, to the eMedia and LiveTV sections of the Service. Id. at 1467–68. 26 Users could add SASP to Jadoo4 and Jadoo5 STBs by using the eMedia search feature or typing a 27 1 URL. Id. at 1468–70. Users watched the Protected Channels on the Service in the LiveTV, 2 eMedia, and VOD features. Id. at 1456–57 ¶ 8. 3 After DISH filed the present action in November 2018, Jadoo blocked or removed access 4 to the Protected Channels on or about April 12, 2019. Id. at 1457 ¶ 9; Sohail Mot. Ex. 14 (dkt. 5 243-14) ¶ 31. But users were able to add the Protected Channels back by following instructions 6 on a YouTube video.8 DISH Mot. Ex. 8 at 1457 ¶ 10. Jadoo ultimately removed the eMedia 7 section in August 2019, which stopped the infringement of the Protected Channels (and thereby 8 the Works). Id. 1457 ¶ 11; Sohail Mot. Ex. 14 ¶ 32. 9 C. Procedural History 10 DISH filed an amended complaint on July 16, 2020, bringing claims for direct, 11 contributory, and vicarious infringement. First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) (dkt. 194). On 12 August 7, 2020, Sohail filed both an answer to the FAC and a motion to dismiss for failure to state 13 a claim under Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Answer (dkt. 203); Mot. 14 (dkt. 201). The Court denied Sohail’s motion to dismiss, holding that DISH plausibly stated 15 claims of direct, contributory, and vicarious infringement as to Sohail. See Order (dkt. 207); 16 DISH Network L.L.C. v. Jadoo TV, Inc., No. 20-CV-01891-CRB, 2020 WL 5816579 (N.D. Cal. 17 Sept. 30, 2020) (“DISH”). 18 DISH and Sohail now bring cross-motions for summary judgment or, in the alternative, 19 summary adjudication. DISH Mot.; Sohail Mot. Those motions are fully briefed. See DISH 20 Opp’n (dkt. 254); Defendants Opp’n (dkt. 257); Sohail Reply (dkt. 260); DISH Reply (dkt. 261). 21 In addition, DISH moves to exclude the rebuttal testimony of Defendants’ experts, 22 Elizabeth Groves and Petra Loer. Mot.

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Dish Network LLC. v. Jadoo TV, Inc., (N.D. Cal. 2023).

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