NDS, a supplier of conditional access technology for digital media, has sued DirecTV, claiming that the satellite broadcaster has been secretly working with a chip manufacturer for two years to develop a knock-off of NDS' latest-generation smart card that infringes on NDS' patent.
The countersuit, which also included two DirecTV subsidiaries, a chip manufacturer and that manufacturer's North American sales affiliate, was filed in response to a lawsuit filed in September by DirecTV against NDS. That lawsuit claimed similar charges against NDS. NDS also accuses DirecTV of leaking smart card information to pirate Web sites in hopes of an excuse to break agreements and unveil its own competing smart card.
NDS is seeking compensation and an injunction to prohibit DirecTV and the chipmaker from manufacturing the new smart card.
Satellite provider EchoStar filed a similar lawsuit against NDS in September.
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