Sky takes My Box to court

Sky Television has taken My Box to court over allegations that the Hamilton-based streaming service lied to its customers about being a legal service.

My Box sells a decoder with pre-loaded apps that gives customers access to Sky TV channels as well as hundreds of international channels for a oneoff fee of $269.

Sky’s lawyer Laura O’Gorman told the High Court in Auckland yesterday that My Box was infringing copyright laws because its pre-loaded apps gave access to pirated content.

She said the company was also misrepresenting customers by stating its business was legal when it was breaching copyright laws, and in doing so, also breaching the Fair Trading Act.

Sky TV is also seeking $1.4 million in compensation in lost revenue.

My Box founder Krish Reddy said in a statement on Saturday that the business was ‘‘completely legal’’. ‘‘My Box still stands by its product and maintains it is 100 per cent legal,’’ Reddy said.

‘‘The fact that the box was set up to allow customers to find content online did not hold My Box accountable for what customers could find,’’ he said.

My Box’s lawyer James Hazel said the business was only providing the decoder, and was not directly involved in copyright infringement. ‘‘Sky has made it seem the defendant is actively involved in nefarious behaviour of third parties who access copyright content in breach of copyright laws. But it [My Box] is not involved in copyright process it sells the product’’ Hazel said.

My Box could be used for ‘‘lawful purposes, not only adapted for unlawful purposes’’ just like an external hardware for photo storage, he said. ‘‘There is no difference between My Box and an iPhone, tablet, laptop or computer.’’

Judge Warwick Smith reserved his judgement.