Charlie’s $1,500 Verdict: A Hollow Victory

I should have been a lawyer, working for Charlie Ergen and billing by the hour. I’d never have to worry about my credit cards bills or retirement fund again.

Ergen, who chairs both Dish Network and his equipment company EchoStar, is known for his penchant for suing—and for being sued. I’m not exaggerating when I say I can’t keep up with all the litigation his companies are embroiled in.

But one of his most newsworthy—and sexy—suits came to its culmination Thursday, a piracy case filed in 2003 by EchoStar against one of Rupert Murdoch’s companies, NDS Group.

EchoStar won the case in principle, but it was one big fat hollow victory.

Although EchoStar had been seeking $1 billion in damages, a California jury only awarded the satellite provider $1,500 in statutory damages.

That’s pocket change to Murdoch.

Basically, EchoStar had charged that NDS had hired renegade software engineers to hack the security of Dish Network’s conditional access system and cards, so thieves could pirate the satellite-provider’s signals.

The last time I looked, which was before the four-week trial started, there had been more than 1,000 filings on the convoluted case. That’s a lot of lawyering for an ultimate payoff of $1,500.

In a statement, EchoStar said it was “disappointed” in the jury’s damages award. However, EchoStar did note that it “was pleased” that NDS would have to cover its attorney fees in the case.

Well, that’s one less legal bill for Charlie. But his lawyers are busy on plenty of other cases.

For example, EchoStar must still defend itself against a lawsuit filed against it by Rainbow Media’s Voom HD. In the midst of that litigation, Ergen dropped all 15 Voom networks this week.

And his attorneys are reportedly working on a settlement with TiVo, which won a big patent-infringement case against EchoStar.

Stay tuned.