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In an ongoing battle against state taxes which single out satellite subscribers, DIRECTV and DISH have filed suit against the state of Utah. Say the duo, DBS subscribers in that state pay sales taxes that are 40% higher than the fees levied on similar programming from cable operators.

It's another in a long line of lawsuits sparked primarily by cable company arguments that since satellite does not use public rights of way, and thus is not subject to the fees paid by cable operators, it should have to pay more in taxes. Those taxes violate state and federal laws, say DIRECTV and DISH ... and similar suits are pending in Florida, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Ohio, where the suit is now before the state Supreme Court.

In other legal news, DISH has won a $151.7M judgment and a permanent injunction against Khackik Bagdasaryan (aka Blacklist) who developed pirate software for Pansat-branded receivers. In addition, DISH got a permanent injunction and a court-ruling that the fines could not be discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding initiated by Bagdasaryan.
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