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Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr. IN THE
COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr. introduced the following bill, which was referred
to the Committee on Economic Development.
To amend the Cable Television Communications Act of 1981 to enhance criminal penalties
and civil liability for the theft of cable television services and for the manufacturing,
use, selling of devices designed to descramble encoded signals of cable television
companies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this act
may be cited as the "Cable Television Theft of Service Prevention Amendment Act of
1999".
Sec. 2. Section 49(a) The Cable Television Communications Act of 1981,
effective March 16, 1988 (D.C. Law 7-93; D.C. Code §43-1848.1), is amended as follows:
(a) Section 49 (D.C. Code § 43-1848.1) is amended to read as follows:
"Sec. 49(a). Theft of Cable Television Service; criminal penalties; civil
liability.
"(1) "Cable television service" means any audio, including telephonic,
video, data, including internet, or other service provided for payment by a cable
television company over its cable television system facilities, including coaxial cable,
wire, fiber optic, or similar transmission services used in connection with any cable
television system.
"(2) "Cable Television company" or "company" means any
franchised company that is operated or intended to be operated to perform the service of
receiving and amplifying television and other video programming and other video and
non-video signals and services, and redistributing such programming and signals by wire,
cable, fiber, or other means for accomplishing such redistribution, to members of the
public who subscribe to such service, or distributing other signals and services through
such company's cable television system facilities including poles, wires, cables, fiber,
conduits, or other property used in providing cable television service an other services
to subscribers and customers.
"(3) "Knowingly" means that the person knows or has reason to know that
the action taken is in violation of the law. For any person who violates subsection (b)(4)
or (b)(5) of the section, "knowingly" means that the person knows or has reason
to know that the action taken is in violation of the law or that the device at issue is
intended to be used, and its design is primarily used, to obtain any unauthorized cable
television services from a company providing such services.
"(4) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation,
company, association, or other legal entity.
"(5) "Device" means a device other than a nondescrambling channel
frequency converter accepted by the Federal Communications Commission.
"(6) "Assist" includes the manufacture, distribution, provision, or
connection, of equipment intended by the manufacturer, distributor, provider, or connector
for unauthorized reception of any communications service offered by a cable television
company in violation of this section.
"(b) No person shall:
"(1) Obtain, intercept or receive, or attempt to obtain, intercept or receive
cable television services from a cable television company by device, converter, decoder,
trick, artifice, deception or other means with the intent or purpose to deprive such
company of an or all lawful compensation for rendering each type of service obtained;
"(2) Assist or instruct any other person or persons in obtaining, intercepting or
receiving, or attempting to obtain, intercept or receive any cable television service, by
any means whatsoever, without payment of all lawful compensation to the cable television
company for rendering each type of service obtained;
"(3) Make or maintain a connection or connections, whether physical, electrical,
mechanical, acoustical or by other means, tamper with or otherwise interfere with any
cables, wires, components, modems, lock boxes, pedestals, or other devices or equipment of
the cable television company used for the distribution of cable television service, with
the intent or purpose to deprive such company of any or all lawful compensation, and
without express authority from the cable television company;
"(4) Make or maintain any modification or alteration to any device, equipment or
apparatus or remove, disconnect or sell any device, equipment or apparatus installed by
the cable television company without the authorization of a cable television company for
the purpose of intercepting, descrambling, decoding or receiving any program or other
service carried by such company which such person is not authorized by such company to
receive, or for the purpose of selling any such device, equipment, or apparatus; or
"(5) Make, manufacture, import into the District of Columbia, assemble, transfer,
distribute, promote, sell, lease, lend, offer, own, possess, or possess for sale,
advertise or publish for sale or lease any device, equipment or apparatus, or any
instructions, information, plan or kit for such device, equipment or apparatus, or for a
printed circuit designed in whole or in part to intercept, decode, descramble or otherwise
make intelligible any encoded, encrypted, scrambled or other nonstandard signal
distributed by a cable television company.
"(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) - (4) of this subsection, a person
who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction
shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $1000 or imprisonment not exceeding 6 months or
both.
"(2) Except as provided in paragraphs (3) - (4) of this subsection, a person who
violates any provision of this section where the value of the service obtained or issued
is $250 or more, or a person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of any
provision of this section, is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction shall be subject
to a fine not exceeding $2,500 or imprisonment not exceeding 1 year, or both.
"(3) A person who commits an act prohibited by any provision of this section for
payment or offer of payment, or with intent to profit from any consideration received or
expected is less than $20,000, is guilty of a felony and on conviction shall be subject to
a fine of not more than $5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or both.
"(4) A person who commits an act prohibited by any provision of this section for
payment or offer of payment, or with intent to profit from any consideration received or
expected, where the value of the services, equipment, credit or benefit received or
expected is $20,000 or more, is guilty of a felony and on conviction shall be subject to a
fine not exceeding the greater of $10,000 or three times the value of the theft and
imprisonment not exceeding 10 years, or both.
"(5) Each day a person is in violation of the section constitutes a separate
offense, or each device at issue pursuant to this section constitutes a separate offense,
whichever is the greater number;
"(6) Where a single connection, whether physical, electrical, mechanical, or
acoustical, or modification or alteration to any device, equipment, or apparatus installed
by the cable television company without the authorization of the cable television, is made
or maintained for the purpose of allowing for the reception of cable television service by
multiple individuals without express authority from the cable television company, each
reception so made constitutes a separate offense, or each device, equipment, or apparatus
so modified or altered constitutes a separate offense, whichever is the greater number;
"(7) Prosecution of violations of this section shall be brought by the Corporation
Counsel of the District of Columbia in the name of the District of Columbia.
"(d) Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall, in addition to
the criminal penalties provided in subsection (c), be civilly liable, for each violation
of this section, to the aggrieved cable television company:
"(1) For an amount not to exceed the greater of the following amounts:
"(a) One Thousand Dollars; or
"(b) Three times the amount of the actual damages, if any, sustained by the
plaintiff cable television company.
"(2) Any person who violates subsection (b)(5) of this section is liable to the
plaintiff cable television company for the greater of the following amounts:
"(a) Ten Thousand Dollars; or
"(b) Three times the amount of the actual damages, if any sustained by the
plaintiff cable television company.
"(3) The manufacture, sale, importation, assembly, transfer, distribution,
promotion, lease, offer, ownership, possession, of any device whatsoever designed in whole
or in part to facilitate the performance of any of the illegal acts set out in this
section shall constitute a separate violation of this section subject to the remedies
provided for in subsections (d)(1) and (d)(2).
"(4) Where a single connection, whether physical, electrical, mechanical, or
acoustical, or modification or alteration to any device, equipment, or apparatus installed
by the cable television company without the authorization of the cable television, is made
or maintained for the purpose of allowing for the reception of cable television service by
multiple individuals without express authority from the cable television company, each
reception so made constitutes a separate offense, or each device, equipment, or apparatus
so modified or altered constitutes a separate offense, whichever is the greater number,
subject to the remedies provided for in subsections (d)(1) and (d)(2).
"(5) Any person who violates any of tie provisions in the section for a second or
subsequent time is liable to the plaintiff cable television company for the greater of the
following amounts:
"(a) Twenty Thousand Dollars; or
"(b) Three times the amount of actual damages, if any, sustained by the plaintiff
cable television company.
"(6) In the event of a verdict in favor of the plaintiff cable television company,
in addition to any actual or statutory damages, the plaintiff cable television company is
entitled to full costs, including reasonable investigative expenses, plus reasonable
attorney fees and may be entitled to additional damages of up to and including $100,000 in
any case in which the court finds that the violation was committed willfully and (i) for
purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage or private financial remuneration or
(ii) for the purpose of allowing for reception of cable television service by multiple
individuals from a single connection. A defendant who prevails in the action shall also be
awarded his or her reasonable attorney fees and any other reasonable costs associated
therein.
"(7) It is not a necessary prerequisite to an action pursuant to this section that
the plaintiff cable television company has suffered, or is threatened with, actual
damages.
"(e) In a criminal prosecution for violation of this section, or in a civil
litigation pursuant to, but not limited to, this section the following shall constitute
prima facie evidence of intent to violate and of the violation of the provisions of this
section:
"(1) The existence on the property or premises of the defendant of any connection,
wire conductor, microwave antenna, lock box key, pedestal key, lock box tool, or any
device whatsoever, or connection in any pedestal or lock box, which is connected in such a
manner as would permit the receipt of cable television service without such service being
reported for payment to and specifically authorized by the cable television company; or
"(2) The existence on the property or premises of the defendant, where the
totality of the circumstances, including quantities or volumes, indicate possession for
resale of any device whatsoever designed in whole or in part to facilitate the performance
of any of the illegal acts set out in this section.
"(f) Any cable television company may, in accordance with the District of Columbia
Rules of Civil Procedure, bring an action to enjoin or restrain any violation or
threatened violation of the provisions of this section, or bring an action for conversion,
and may in the same action seek damages as provided in subsection (d). Injunctive relief
shall issue upon a showing that a violation of this section has occurred or will occur,
without the need for demonstrating irreparable injury, inadequacy of legal remedies, or
probability of recovery. In any such action, injunctive relief shall also be awarded
directing the defendants to turn over to plaintive cable television company all equipment
and devices that are or could reasonably be intended to be used in violation of the
provisions of this section, or that have been previously disconnected, removed, sold,
altered, or modified without authorization of the cable television company. The successful
party may recover reasonable attorney fees.
"(g) Except as provided in subsection (f), any electrical or communications
equipment, apparatus or any other such device used, modified, altered, disconnected,
removed, or sold, in violation of the provisions of this section shall be considered
contraband subject to seizure and forfeiture to the District of Columbia.
"(h) The provisions of this section are severable. If any part of this section is
declared invalid or unconstitutional, such declaration shall not affect the part which
remains.
(b) Section 51(a)(D.C. Code § 43-1849), is mended to read as follows:
"(a) Any individual who violates any provision of this chapter shall be fined a
civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 per infraction. Any individual who violates any
provision of this act shall be fined a civil penalty in accordance with that stated in
section 49a."
Sec. 3.
Section 3 of the Cable Television Communications Act of 1981 Amendment Act of 1987,
effective March 16, 1988 (D.C. Law 7-93; D.C. Code § 43-1848.1) is amended by striking
the section designation "49A" and inserting the section designation
"49a" in its place wherever it appears.
Sec. 4. Fiscal impact statement.
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal
impact statement required by Section 602(c)(3) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act,
approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Code §1233(c)(3)).
Sec. 4. Effective date.
This Act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by
the Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), approved by the Financial
Responsibility and Management Assistance Authority as provided in section 203(a) of the
District of Columbia Financial Responsibility and Management Assistance Act of 1995,
approved April 17, 1995 (109 Stat. 116; D.C. Code §47-392.3(a), and a 30-day period of
Congressional review as provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia
Self-Government Home Rule Act, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Code
§1-233(c)(1)), and publication in the District of Columbia Register. |