The English Premier League has lost its case in the European Court of Justice against a publican who used a foreign decoder to show live football matches.
Portsmouth publican Karen Murphy was ordered to pay almost £8,000 in fines and costs after she was taken to court by the league for using a Greek decoder to screen matches, avoiding the league's own controls over where its matches are screened.
But she took her case to the Luxembourg court, which said today some UK pubs had started using foreign decoder cards, issued by a Greek broadcaster to subscribers resident in Greece, to access Premier League matches.
The pubs buy a card and a decoder box from a dealer at prices lower than those of Sky, the holder of the UK broadcasting rights.
The European Court of Justice said an exclusive system of licences for the broadcasting of football matches in different EU countries - effectively stopping fans watching the broadcasts with a decoder card in other member states - is "contrary to EU law".
The judgment delivered today said: "The Court of Justice holds that national legislation which prohibits the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards is contrary to the freedom to provide services and cannot be justified either in light of the objective of protecting intellectual property rights or by the objective of encouraging the public to attend football stadiums."
The judges said that, in trying to justify its restrictions, the Premier League could not claim copyright over Premier League matches themselves, as such sporting events could not be considered to be an author's own "intellectual creation" and, therefore, to be "works" for the purposes of EU copyright law.
The ruling by the ECJ could have major implications for how the Premier League sells its broadcast rights both in Europe.
Publicans seek Sky meeting
The Licensed Vintners Association says it is to seek a meeting with Sky Ireland following the ruling.
LVA Chief Executive Donall O'Keeffe said the association realised the case first had to return to the High Court in London for ratification.
But in the interim they were seeking a meeting this week with Sky Ireland to establish how the company planned to respond to the ruling.
The publicans group said it currently costs pubs up to €800 a month to show Sky Sports.
