Foreign Satellite Scores in UK Pubs

04-Oct-2011

On 4th October 2011 the European Court of Justice gave its ruling allowing the sale of foreign satellite decoder cards used to screen Premier League football matches.

 

The judgment said that “national law which prohibits the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards is contrary to the freedom to provide services and cannot be justified”. On the face of it, this prevents the Premier League banning the use of decoder cards from countries within the EC and should mean a saving for consumers who are no longer restricted to Sky Sports subscriptions.

 

As a result of this ruling, there may be a shake-up to the exclusivity agreements between the Premier League and ESPN and Sky Sports, allowing cheaper access to football broadcasts.

 

However, whilst the ECJ confirmed that there was no copyright protection in the live match, the Premier League branding was protected, and showing this in a broadcast would still require permission. As such there is still the possibility of copyright infringement claims and this decision should not be seen as a green light for premises to show matches via foreign decoder cards.

 

In particular, the case must now come back to be heard by the High Court who will make a decision on how the case is to be interpreted in English law, and despite it being unusual for the High Court not to follow the ruling of the ECJ, we would advise you to wait until the decision has been made and the matter is settled.

 

If you would like any further information, please contact our Licensing Team as recommended in Legal 500

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