Ireland IP & Technology Law Blog : Dublin Lawyers & Attorneys for Intellectual Property, Communications & Information Technology Law in Ireland, U.S. & England

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The ECJ last week handed down a comprehensive ruling on the long awaited Premier League rights case. The main points are as follows:  

• The granting of exclusive broadcasting rights to show Premier League football games on a country by country basis is contrary to the principles of the internal market, according to last week’s ruling by the ECJ.  

• Similarly the prohibition on the supply and use of decoder cards which allow viewers to watch the broadcasts from another jurisdiction is unlawful. This leaves consumers free to purchase decoding equipment and watch the games broadcast from another jurisdiction.
• The ECJ also held that while there is no copyright in the games themselves, showing the games publicly without a broadcast license will infringe copyright in some displayed features, such as the Premier League logo, credits and playback clips. The ruling therefore has the practical effect of still requiring public venues to purchase a license to show the games.

The full text of the judgment is available here.