Satellite pay-television broadcaster Cable Thai Holdings, which has the Thai rights to English Premier League football, is suing technology company Apple for permitting the sale of applications that allow consumers to view games on mobile devices.
According to the Bangkok Post newspaper, CTH has filed lawsuits against Apple Inc, Apple South Asia (Thailand) and its executive with the Intellectual Property and International Trade Court and the Criminal Court. It is demanding compensation of B100m (€2.4m/$3.1m).
CTH is also suing the developer of the ‘Sport Channel’ app, which provides streams of all online sports channels that are available in Thailand.
In November, CTH acquired Premier League rights in Thailand, Cambodia and Laos for the three-year cycle from 2013-14 to 2015-16. It argues that services such as Sport Channel damage its investment in the rights.
The case has been listed in the Criminal Court for November 18 and in the Civil Court for December 23. The maximum prison term for this type of intellectual property violation is four years.