The English Premier League, the country’s top football division, has secured a new High Court victory in its ongoing battle against piracy and intellectual property theft of its broadcast rights in UK public houses.
The High Court on Thursday ruled that First National Wine Bar in the English city of Liverpool was infringing Premier League copyright with its broadcasts of games via the channels of pay-television broadcaster Al Jazeera. First National was ordered to pay £65,000 (€79,000/$109,000) to the Premier League in costs and the Court awarded an injunction against the premises.
The league said Thursday’s verdict represented the second case in the space of six weeks that resulted in the High Court ruling that using unauthorised systems in a pub to broadcast Premier League matches infringes its copyright, and the second time a pub has been ordered to pay costs of £65,000 for doing so. The previous case concerned the use of an unauthorised Danish satellite system.
Al Jazeera, which recently rebranded as beIN Sports, holds exclusive rights in the Middle East and North Africa for all Premier League games in a three-year deal, from 2013-14 to 2015-16.
Al Jazeera in December said it would introduce a new set-top box to tackle concerns over piracy of its coverage of the Premier League. The broadcaster said that the “secure” system would lead to a “piracy-free situation as soon as possible.” The Premier League in November requested that a number of its overseas media-rights partners limit the number of games they show at 3pm UK time on Saturdays, when the majority of games take place.
Commenting on Thursday’s High Court ruling, the Premier League said in a statement: “Publicans should beware of suppliers that mislead and attempt to rip people off with false claims that such systems are legal. If pubs want to avoid the risk of having legal action taken against them they should purchase a commercial subscription from Sky Sports and BT Sport.”