Dozens of prosecutions brought by an agent on behalf the English Premier League in a bid to protect domestic rights deals could be challenged following a UK court decision, according to the Financial Times newspaper.
The decision was in a case involving the owners of a UK pub who used an Albanian satellite decoder to show Premier League matches. A private prosecution against pub owners Andrew and Christine Crawford was ruled “incompetent” and “void” in an appeal after it was found that Media Protection Services (MPS), the agent used by the league in such cases, and its late founder Ray Hoskin, were not regulated solicitors.
In upholding an earlier decision and saying that proceedings should be dismissed, the court ruled that in receiving a payment from the league, MPS was acting as a solicitor when it was not officially recognised as such. As an unregulated solicitor, MPS should not have been allowed to carry out certain tasks for the prosecution, the court said.
According to Paul Dixon, who represented the Crawfords and also advised publican Karen Murphy in her case against the Premier League which reached the European Court of Justice last year, as many as 100 historic prosecutions brought on behalf of the league could now be challenged.
Dixon said that the league has about 20 similar ongoing cases that could be affected, depending on whether court papers were prepared by regulated solicitors.
The Financial Times report said that MPS’s role for the league had been narrowed to investigations rather than prosecutions since founder Hoskin’s death last year.
The league said: “This judgment is in regard to a legal technicality and does not change the fact that we have copyright protected works in our broadcasts. [Pay-television broadcasters] Sky and ESPN are the only authorised broadcasters of live Premier League matches in the UK. Publicans should be aware that legal action will be taken against those who use unauthorised systems and cards to show live Premier League matches in a pub or other commercial premises.”
Meanwhile, the league has also revealed that it shut down more than 30,000 illegal internet streams of its televised matches last season.