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By Sonya Rabbitte, 13 March 2002 15:45

NEWS News Corporation subsidiary NDS has threatened to counter-sue French rival Canal Plus after slamming the software piracy charges filed against it yesterday as "baseless and outrageous" (http://www.silicon.com/a51985 ). NDS last night denied the software piracy and sabotage charges and accused Canal Plus of trying to shift the blame for its "inadequate technology". NDS, which counts Rupert Murdoch's son Lachlan Murdoch among its directors, said it had not been served with the complaint, but would file a countersuit once it had reviewed the case. The response followed a lawsuit filed yesterday in the US by Canal Plus, alleging NDS had stolen its digital TV encryption code and distributed it online to international counterfeit groups. Canal Plus claims it lost $1bn in business after criminal organisation swamped its markets with fake smartcards. In a written statement, Dr Abe Peled, CEO of NDS, said: "The problem is due solely to the inferior nature of Canal Plus' technology, the failure of its business plan to contain measures to protect against piracy and its failure to deal with piracy once it began." He also claimed Canal Plus' complaint lacked credibility as the company had approached NDS in December 2001 with the idea of merging, and for the past year had been trying to poach the NDS employee alleged to have distributed the Canal Plus code online. Canal Plus claimed the counter arguments made by NDS are "untrue" and said it stands by the allegations made in its lawsuit. Francois Carayol, executive vice president of the Canal Plus group, reiterated his earlier claim that the company had evidence that it would present in court.