As widely predicted after the well-known Greek satellite decoder case, the Premier League has been using the law of copyright to target publicans broadcasting Premier League matches in the UK without a licence.
As some may remember, the CJEU previously held that the Premier League could not use its broadcasting licences to restrict the import and sale into the UK of EU decoder cards. However, it said that Premier League could prevent the public broadcast of its protected logos and graphics by those who were using a EU decoder card, under Article 3(1) of the Copyright Directive.
In a recent case, one such publican folded not long after proceedings for copyright infringement had been issued against him by the Premier League. However, as is more often than not the case, the issues of damages and costs were less simple to agree and the parties are currently asking the Court to rule on them.
The publican's position is that, because he had broadcast only a small number of matches in breach, the logos and graphics were only a relatively minor part of the broadcast, there would be a relatively low rate for an applicable licence, and the Premier League was therefore only entitled to minimal damages. Given this, and the fact that the claim should have been in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, the publican argues that the Premier League's costs recovery would be significantly limited.
The Premier League argue to the contrary. They say that the licence over the period of infringement would have been significant (perhaps in the order of £30,000), it was a complex claim, the publican had plenty of time to raise issues with proportionality, and the choice of the High Court as a venue and his general conduct had been significant factors in the level of costs incurred.
Although a final decision has yet to be reached on either matter, the Premier League did ask the Court to order the publican to make an interim payment to the Premier League on account of its costs. Although it could only look at the issues briefly and inconclusively, the High Court preferred the Premier League's reasoning, and ordered the publican to pay £65,000 (or about 45%) to the Premier League's within 28 days.
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