11:05am Tuesday 4th October 2011
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The Premier League have lost their case in the European Court of
Justice (ECJ) against a pub landlady who used a foreign decoder to
show live matches at 3pm on Saturdays.
The ruling by the ECJ could have major implications for how the
Premier League sell their broadcast rights both in Britain and
Europe.
The ECJ said in a statement: "A system of licences for the
broadcasting of football matches which grants broadcasters
territorial exclusivity on a member state basis and which prohibits
television viewers from watching the broadcasts with a decoder card
in other member states is contrary to EU law."
The case came to the ECJ after Portsmouth publican Karen Murphy
appealed after losing a court action brought against her by the
Premier League for using the Greek satellite decoder.
The case in the ECJ also involves the suppliers of such decoder
cards to those pubs.
In its judgment delivered today, the ECJ ruled: "National
legislation which prohibits the import, sale or use of foreign
decoder cards is contrary to the freedom to provide services and
cannot be justified either in light of the objective of protecting
intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the
public to attend football stadiums."
The implications of the ruling could not just affect the Premier
League but every sport that sells broadcast rights on a
country-by-country basis. It is also how UEFA, for example, sell
the rights for the Champions League. It could also affect the sale
of TV programmes generally across Europe.
The ECJ also ruled that only the opening video sequence, the
Premier League anthem, and pre-recorded clips showing highlights of
recent Premier League matches and various graphics could be
protected by copyright.
"By contrast, the matches themselves are not works enjoying such
protection," says the ruling.
Pubs would have to obtain permission to broadcast those opening
sequences, said the ruling, but not the match itself.