My Box in court over copyrights

Sky Television has taken My Box to court over allegations 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.

‘‘My Box ... maintains it is 100 per cent legal’’ My Box founder Krish Reddy

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

Sky TV is also seeking $1.4m 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 allegations of copyright breaches did not stand as O’Gorman failed to provide specific examples of copyright breaches as Sky Television New Zealand itself did not own the copyright for all its content.