A judgment by Lord Justice Kitchin published today applied a ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU, which was given in October last year. The complex dispute is essentially between the FAPL, which licenses the rights to Premier League football matches, and QC Leisure, a supplier of satellite equipment and decoder cards.
QC had supplied the cards to numerous pubs and clubs, enabling them to access satellite broadcasting originating in other European countries. This meant they could bypass the UK broadcasts made by FAPL's UK licensees Sky Sports and ESPN.
The Court of Justice ruled last October that the FA's territorial licensing fell foul of European competition law. Kitchin today addressed eight issues that remained to be determined, concerning matters such as what constitutes communication to the public and authorising infringing acts and what if any remedies are appropriate.
After detailed discussion of European and UK copyright law,...