Motorised Satellite Installations - (SATELLITE TV FOOTBALL & THE LAW)

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SATELLITE TV FOOTBALL & THE LAW

Football & the Law?

The English Premier League is now the 2nd biggest grossing sports organisation in the World @ £5.6bn from £191m & will become the biggest if it passes the NFL.

Many think the game has been highjacked by greed that is only getting worse.
The conclusion was that because football is a live event with a non predictable outcome, it cannot actually be copyrighted. After all the money they spent on legal advice, it seems they have rounded on one thing & that is the graphics [EPL logos / score & info graphics etc] .
Any legal documents with photographic proof sent to pubs showing football from elsewhere made mention of the graphics & there after called them the works or similar - the works meant the graphics & not the actual football game. BT Sport has tried to ignore the court 's findings - they can't do that.

You should always seek your own legal advice including the legal groups that support pubs showing football.
[Individuals watching football in their own home do not have the same problems as pubs]

This is an extract of the English Premier League case & other cases.

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We were raided by The City of London Police, The EPL and MPS on Thursday 18th August 2011 at 5.30 AM under warrant. We maintain under a defence already lodged by our experienced legal Copyright teams in another case related to Tring Cards, that to sell these cards is not illegal and we fully intend to do so in the future, or until the law says otherwise. We do not recognise the UK Registered Company Media Protection Services (MPS) as having any legal authority to enter ours or your premises at any time now or in the future. To emphasise this even when MPS arrived at our premises with the Police, I personally removed MPS immediately from our premises and in full view of the Police with their knowledge. MPS were told (in my usual polite manner) to vacate our premises and to never come back. I took great pleasure in watching them stood outside in the cold at 5.30 in the morning having to watch from a distance. Remember ...... only the Police with a warrant can enter your premises in relation to these cards and you have every right to remove MPS if they do call, or have them removed by the Police for trespassing if they refuse. Only Ofcom in the UK are authorised to police broadcasters or broadcasting legal issues they may have with subscription cards. Tring cards along with all other European cards are still not illegal in the UK until the UK Courts decide otherwise. Until then we maintain that although Albania is not yet officially a full European member state, they did sign the EFTA European free trade agreement in preparation for when they do join. That agreement has been in place since then and for trade purposes Albania is considered by Europe as a trading partner, as per the agreement signed in November 2010. Presumably the EPL knew of this agreement before they signed contracts with Tring TV and so we really cannot understand why they have issues with Tring TV only at this time instead of all European broadcasters. The European Strasbourg Court gives their ruling on European cards this year and expected in early October 2011. Tring cards may or may not be part of this ruling, depending on the UK Courts ruling on if these cards are to classed as European cards. Kind Regards (as always) Craig Paolo: Marconi Digital; fighting for your rights and freedom of choice.
TWO former pub managers are celebrating after a court cleared them of dishonestly screening Premier League football
matches.Gary and Karen Dixon had been charged after showing a match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur at the Fox and Duck pub, in Birches Head, in 2009 without a BSkyB or ESPN subscription.North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court heard the couple had a contract with Longton-based Platinum Satellite to deliver cut-price broadcasts using a de-coder card.It meant they were showing Orbit Showtime programmes which are available in North Africa and the Middle East at a cost of £3,120-a-year. That compares with the £6,403.23 annual cost of a Sky subscription for the Chell Street pub.And District Judge David Taylor cleared the Dixons after ruling the couple had not been dishonest.Speaking after the case, Mrs Dixon, who is now unemployed and lives in Birches Head, said: "So many other publicans will be glad to see we're not guilty because these cases are being brought all over the place."We had nothing to hide, we honestly did what we thought was right. We were trying to keep up with the local competition."The satellite system was installed at the pub in August 2009.But three months later a Media Protection Services (MPS) official – which investigates for the Premier League – visited the pub and told the couple they were breaking the law by screening matches.The court heard Mrs Dixon contacted Platinum Satellite and was reassured the system was legal.The court heard the transmission originated from Hampshire with the addition of English commentary and a Showtime logo.Clearing the Dixons, Mr Taylor said: "By the end of November 2009, Mrs Dixon knew she had ended up with a north African card and alarm bells should have been ringing, and indeed they were, and she contacted Platinum Satellite."It has not been proven that the defendants were dishonest." Lawyers acting on behalf of the Premier League have been targeting pubs which use cut-price foreign channels because UK pubs are banned from showing live football matches on Saturday afternoons.One UK landlady has taken her fight to the European Court of Justice which is still to formally rule on the dispute.http://www.thisisstaffordshire.co.uk/Couple-score-court-victory-Sky-row/story-13156500-detail/story.html180811.... TWO former pub managers are celebrating after a court cleared them of dishonestly screening Premier League football matches.Gary and Karen Dixon had been charged after showing a match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur at the Fox and Duck pub, in Birches Head, in 2009 without a BSkyB or ESPN subscription.North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court heard the couple had a contract with Longton-based Platinum Satellite to deliver cut-price broadcasts using a de-coder card.It meant they were showing Orbit Showtime programmes which are available in North Africa and the Middle East at a cost of £3,120-a-year. That compares with the £6,403.23 annual cost of a Sky subscription for the Chell Street pub.And District Judge David Taylor cleared the Dixons after ruling the couple had not been dishonest.Speaking after the case, Mrs Dixon, who is now unemployed and lives in Birches Head, said: "So many other publicans will be glad to see we're not guilty because these cases are being brought all over the place."We had nothing to hide, we honestly did what we thought was right. We were trying to keep up with the local competition."The satellite system was installed at the pub in August 2009.But three months later a Media Protection Services (MPS) official – which investigates for the Premier League – visited the pub and told the couple they were breaking the law by screening matches.The court heard Mrs Dixon contacted Platinum Satellite and was reassured the system was legal.The court heard the transmission originated from Hampshire with the addition of English commentary and a Showtime logo.Clearing the Dixons, Mr Taylor said: "By the end of November 2009, Mrs Dixon knew she had ended up with a north African card and alarm bells should have been ringing, and indeed they were, and she contacted Platinum Satellite."It has not been proven that the defendants were dishonest." Lawyers acting on behalf of the Premier League have been targeting pubs which use cut-price foreign channels because UK pubs are banned from showing live football matches on Saturday afternoons.One UK landlady has taken her fight to the European Court of Justice which is still to formally rule on the dispute.

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PUBLICAN Ian Porteous has been cleared of dishonestly screening live football matches after a judge threw out the case.

District Judge Simon Morgan dismissed the case, saying he could not be satisfied the licensee was dishonest by showing matches at The Roebuck Inn, Church Street, Silverdale.

North Staffordshire Magistrates' Court heard an investigator visited the pub on September 14, 2008, and saw Stoke City's Premier League match against Everton being shown live by a foreign satellite channel.

The pub was then visited by media licensing investigator Sidney Wood, from Media Protection Services, on October 24, 2009.

He saw a live Premier League match being broadcast via an Albanian channel.

He returned on November 17 to give the licensee two letters – one from the Premier League and one from the Albanian broadcaster. He also spoke to Mr Porteous and filled in an advice report with him.

Mr Wood said he told Mr Porteous he needed a commercial agreement with BSkyB to screen live Premier League games and other systems sold at a reduced rate were illegal in the UK.

Mr Porteous said he had a decoder card and, as far as he was concerned, it was a European card. He named the supplier and said they told him the card was legal.

Mr Wood visited the pub again on December 6, 2009, and saw a live Premier League match being screened on an Albanian channel.

Mr Porteous, aged 60, denied a charge of dishonestly receiving a programme with intent to avoid payment.

He said he bought the system from Satellite Solutions and it was never suggested to him that it may have been illegal.

And he added that if Mr Wood had told him it was illegal he would have acted upon it.

Mr Porteous told the court: "If he had said he had been in a few weeks earlier I would have said it's the same system.

"I would have probably wanted it verifying, but I would have done something about it.

"At that time I still did not know my system was illegal."

"When you pay so much, you think everything is legal. All he had to say was 'look, I have seen the system and it is illegal'."

District Judge Morgan said he found it "amazing" there was no record of what went on at the meeting between Mr Wood and the defendant other than a completed form.

He said Mr Wood asked questions designed to establish the commission of an offence and said the letters given to Mr Porteous might not be easily understood by someone who does not understand law.

The judge said: "Why did they not just say we visited and we think it is illegal? It is not rocket science. The defendant says he would have done something about it. I can't for one moment be satisfied he was dishonest and in those circumstances I dismiss the case."

After the hearing, Mr Porteous said: "I am relieved it is all over."

He said he stopped showing live matches for a while after the summons, but then got a European card. He said he stopped that last season, but will now have live matches via a Swedish channel.

He said: "I'm looking forward to having live football in the pub again."

Ban on foreign football satellite feeds is illegal, says European Court adviser

UK broadcasters cannot prevent viewers using foreign satellite feeds to watch Premier League football matches, an adviser to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said.

In a move that could have major ramifications for the Premier League, Sky Sports and ESPN, ECJ advocate general Juliane Kokott has said a such a block is against European law.

Currently Premier League football is shown live in other countries on a Saturday afternoon, but that is banned in the UK to protect attendance figures.

To get around this, some viewers - especially pubs - use foreign feeds to screen matches.

But the authorities could soon be powerless to stop them if the European Court of Justice follows advice from Ms Kokott.

They are expected to make a ruling in the next few months, and typically follow the advice of the advocate general in the majority of cases.

Ms Kokott said: "The exclusivity agreement relating to transmission of football matches are contrary to European Union law.

"(The) exclusivity rights in question have the effect of partitioning the internal market into quite separate national markets, something which constitutes a serious impairment of the freedom to provide services."

The case is based on a dispute over whether a rights holder - such as the Premier League - can sell rights to football on a country-by-country basis.

The Premier League currently generates huge revenues by doing just that.

Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Ban-on-foreign-football-satellite-feeds-is-illegal-says-European-Court-adviser-article689289.html#ixzz1WFsUqCLB
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And here's the EPL's ..

Updated information regarding the broadcasting of Premier League on the Viasat satellite platform
Premier League have informed us that we are not allowed to broadcast Saturday at the match. 16:00 via satellite, that is, when receiving the signal via satellite. All the other Premier League matches will be as before and the Saturday games replay at a later date. This change does not affect viewers via cable and IPTV, which will continue to see the Premier League as before, including a game on Saturdays. 16.00 at Viasat Football / Soccer Viasat HD.

The amendment to viewers via satellite is to the Premier League to protect Section 48 of the UEFA Statutes, to ensure visitors to venues and encourage more fans to place on Saturdays. No broadcaster may, under this section shall live football on TV at. 16:00 on Saturday in England. Satellite broadcasting reaches audiences outside Sweden and, therefore, British viewers reached by Viasat TV signal in England. We only offer our services and support in countries where we operate today.

We are continuing discussions with the Premier League while we investigate other opportunities to offer all matches from the Premier League. We would like to return as soon as we have new information on this issue

120812

211212 UPDATE FROM THE MA

Premier League loses appeal over video replays in football broadcasts

the FA Premier League (FAPL) has lost an appeal over football video replays in the long-running QC Leisure case, after a judged ruled yesterday that they are not subject to copyright laws.

Football in pubs: Video replays are currently not subject to copyright laws
In February, Lord Justice Kitchin said that the FAPL’s copyright had been breached by importers of foreign satellite equipment in certain areas, such as by broadcasting its anthem, logo and other on-screen graphics.

However he added that under section 72 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA), a free broadcast to an audience does not infringe any copyright in the broadcast itself (the match) and “any film included in it”.

The FAPL appealed the decision but it was yesterday dismissed in the High Court, with the judge admitting that the UK had failed to fully implement the European Union’s Copyright Directive, which would extend copyright to video replays.

It is understood that the FAPL has already opened discussions with the Government about amending the UK law so that it falls in line with the EU Copyright Directive.

However, Dave Richardson of QC Leisure has welcomed the ruling, and told the PMA that he intends to resume trading from January.

Richardson has spent the last four years assisting in the development of the TV Ad Tech system which replaces any copyrighted on-screen graphics with other material such as advertising.

“It is a landmark day,” said Richardson. “It is absolutely brilliant news because we can now work within the framework set out by British and European judges which will let us protect the Premier League’s copyright and at the same time show live football.

“I fully intend to work within Lord Justice Kitchin’s judgement and protect the Premier League’s copyrighted material. My business is about protecting my own interests, in terms of turnover, but it is also about supporting publicans who don’t want to pay extortionate fees to show football in their pubs.”

Legal expert Peter Coulson nevertheless issued a word of warning for licensees, and commented that “this doesn’t change the situation”.

He said: “Licensees should still take great care in this area but it is likely that certain people will take advantage of this ruling by providing a service free from copyright, as it now stands.”

A spokesperson for the Premier League said: "This hearing was in regard to a very narrow issue in the QC Leisure High Court judgment and does not change the fact that the Premier League established in that case that its artistic and musical works are infringed by publicans who communicate such works to the public. SO YOU COULD DECIDE TO TURN THE SOUND OFF & BLANK THEIR GRAPHICS.

"We are encouraged that Lord Justice Etherton made clear beyond doubt that the UK government has not implemented the European Copyright Directive correctly by failing to provide protection for film works in broadcasts.

"We will now engage with Government on this matter to ask how they intend to amend UK law into line with European requirements and give copyright owners such as the Premier League the full range of rights to which they are entitled.

"We remind all publicans that Sky and ESPN are the only authorised broadcasters of live Premier League matches in the UK and that legal action will be taken against those who use unauthorised systems and cards to show live Premier League matches in a pub or other commercial premises."

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