A pub landlord has been fined nearly £30,000 after making unauthorised broadcasts of Sky Sports football matches.
According to reports, the proprietor of the Lamb Inn, Staffordshire, was found guilty of infringing Sky’s copyright by showing licenced content without the required commercial agreement.
In total, the court ordered owner Andrew Smith to pay damages of £18,539.24 plus interest of £247.19 and £10,903.20 in costs to Sky.
Commenting on the ruling, George Lawson, head of commercial piracy at Sky, said: “Orders like this demonstrates the seriousness of screening Sky Sports without the required commercial licence.
“It is damaging to the industry, and those licensees who choose to show content in this way should be aware that they are at a high risk of being caught and facing substantial penalties.
“Our customers are very important to us and we will not hesitate in taking action against pubs who continue to screen Sky Sports fraudulently, ensuring that the thousands of the law-abiding pubs and clubs who pay for legitimate commercial Sky subscriptions are not short-changed.”
Mr Lawson added that increased enforcement action for the 2019/20 season saw Sky making 700 unscheduled visits to pubs and sports bars every week, as well as shutting down 200,000 illegal online sports streams.
According to recent figures, the Premier League brought 36 claims of copyright infringement before the UK High Court in the year ending 31 March 2019 – making it the most active litigator in the UK.
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