Dish network tells court News Corp unit hacked it

By Tori Richards

SANTA ANA, Calif., April 9 (Reuters) - Hackers hired by a News Corp (NWS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) unit stole and posted data that allowed free access to Dish Network's (DISH.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) satellite television service, the company said, in a corporate spying trial against its rival that could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Dubbed the "Black Hat Team," the computer whizzes flooded the market with smart cards that allowed free satellite TV access, a lawyer for Dish said on Wednesday. The suit was brought by EchoStar Communications which later split into two companies, Dish and EchoStar Corp.

A lawyer for News Corps's NDS Group (NNDS.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) denied that the company engaged in spying, saying during opening statements in the trial that it was instead engaged in reverse engineering by obtaining the codes and were monitoring piracy.

"Because this is a competitive business, NDS also monitors competitors," NDS attorney Richard Stone told jurors. "NDS has done nothing to illegally harm or damage EchoStar. All NDS has done is compete hard and fair in the marketplace."

Dish is suing NDS and NDS Americas in a corporate espionage trial that U.S. District Judge David Carter said could bring an award of "hundreds of millions or perhaps billions."

The potential damages are based on claims of lost revenue and the cost of fixing the compromised system.

"(NDS) came up with a plan - take these hackers off the streets and turn them on the competitors," Dish's lead attorney, Wade Welch, told the jury. "They called it the Black Hat Team."

NDS, which provides encryption technology to a global satellite empire that includes News Corp's DirecTV in the United States, "made the calculated decision to hire the worst and most well-known satellite pirates and hackers in the world in an effort to establish and maintain control ... over its competitors' technology" EchoStar claims in its lawsuit.