The estimated FY 2016 total of 669 is well below the FY 2015 count when there were 1,158 such lawsuits and the figure for five years ago when there were 1,526. Thus the pace for 2016 filings is down 42.2 percent from last year and has dropped by 56.2 percent over the past five years.

Lawsuits involving cable and satellite TV payments often involve restaurant and bar owners sued for allegedly committing television signal piracy. Often these involve showing pay-per-view television programs such as sporting events in a commercial establishment without paying the commercial rate to show these programs.

Litigation of this type is not evenly spread across the country. The Southern District of Texas (Houston) leads the country with 101 out of the total of 613 suits filed nationally during the first eleven months of FY 2016. This means that about one out of every six suits in the country were filed in Texas South.

For the full report, including figures and rankings for the top ten federal districts, go to:

http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/civil/440/

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