Portsmouth landlady goes to High Court for final ruling on dispute with Premier League
A pub landlady from Portsmouth is going to the High Court in London in a dispute with the Premier League over showing English football games on a foreign decoder.
The case could cause a major shake-up in the way football TV rights are sold and potentially pave the way to cheaper viewing of foreign broadcasts of top-flight English games.
Landlady Karen Murphy had to pay nearly £8,000 in fines and costs for using a cheaper Greek decoder in her pub to bypass controls over match screening. However, she took her case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which found partly in her favour, but returned the case to the High Court in London for a final ruling.
The ECJ said that national laws banning the sale or use of foreign decoders were in breach of the freedom to provide services. It also said the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches.
However, the ECJ said that although live matches were not protected by copyright, any surrounding media - such as the Premier League anthem or pre-recorded highlights of other matches - were protected. Therefore, pubs wanting to show these parts would need permission from the Premier League.
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By Kerstin Kühn
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