Digital TV News

Pub landlady scores winner against the Premier League

Wednesday 5 October, 2011

By Kelvin Goodson

Portsmouth publican wins European court case with the Premier League over using a foreign TV decoder to show matches.

A landlady from Portsmouth has won her court case with the Premier League over using a foreign TV decoder to show matches in her pub.

Karen Murphy, who runs The Red, White and Blue in Southsea, had criminal proceedings taken against her after using a Greek decoder card to screen Premier League football.

The European Court of Justice ruled that exclusive territorial broadcasting rights to football matches and preventing people from watching games through a decoder card are “contrary to EU law”.

“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”.

Many pubs use decoder cards and boxes to show matches as it is cheaper than doing so through Sky, which holds the broadcasting rights to the majority of Premier League games in the UK.

The Court ruled that the Premier League cannot claim copyright over the matches themselves because sporting events “cannot be considered to be an author’s own intellectual creation”.

However, the court also ruled that the likes of opening video sequences and the Premier League anthem can be regarded as “protected works,” meaning that the “authorisation of the author of the works is necessary” for them to be shown in public legally.

The case was originally referred to the European Court of Justice by the high court due to questions regarding the interpretation of EU law. The case will now be referred back to the high court, which will decide the dispute itself in accordance with the European Court of Justice’s ruling.

Murphy told the BBC she was “very relieved” and felt she had “taken on the Premier League and Sky”.

She added she no longer has a decoder box in her pub and would wait for the high court’s decision before getting another one.

In a statement, the Premier League said: “The areas of law involved are complicated and necessarily we will take our time to digest and understand the full meaning of the judgment and how it might influence the future sale of Premier League audiovisual rights in the European economic area.”

A Sky spokesman said: “This is a case about the licensing arrangements of bodies like the Premier League. It will have implications for how rights are sold across Europe in future, which we are considering. As a broadcaster, it will remain our aim to secure high-quality content for our customers based on the rights available to us.”