which system are legal now for pubs / club for epl games

[Manic01]

Al Jazeera as well.

[seamouse]

if you took your box and card to poland then yes, you would be moaned at, as sky UK is only a foot print over uk you would find something there maybe know as sky.pol

thousands of uk people take their UK sky cards to places like spain for holidays each year, which as well is breaking the terms of service, but it happens and cant be stopped.

on some other sat boxes, u dont get the pint glass icon as there is no red button / interactive services on some sat boxes

[flyingpig]

I was talking to a specialist in the field of copyright law / intellectual property about this case, and he was saying that the EPL would be very hard pushed and advised against taking any publican to court over the broadcast of logo's as they would almost undoubtledly lose the case.

This, after long discussions was agreed with a few others based on the fact that the EPL do not give single permssions or licenses for use of copyright, so you can not be in breach. They (the EPL) publicse their logo during other broadcasts other than EPL games and any public broadcast would not be able to remove their logo if they did not have permission (license or some other ponsey term).

After all said and done - apparently it is a nonsense and any publican, landlord, or place that has the rights to make public broadcasts for entertainment cannot be stopped using a foreign provider, that is until next time a high flying lawyer wants to make a few quid and make a challenge.

[Manic01]

Pubs face court for illegally screening matches
Thursday 5th January 2012, 11:00AM GMT.



Pubs illegally showing Premier League football matches on foreign decoders and satellites will continue to face prosecution despite a European Court ruling they believed offered them protection, it can be revealed today.

The Red Lion pub in Willenhall was this week hit with a ?4,000 fine and investigators today warned they are continuing to monitor others across the region.

Landlords across Staffordshire and the Black Country believed a recent ruling from a top European judge opened the gates for them to be able to show games through cut-price networks.

But although that ruling is likely to become law in the UK following a High Court hearing on February 24, it currently remains illegal to show games unless it is through a Sky or ESPN subscription package.

Convictions can be appealed, but the cost of doing so would see venues having to pay thousands of pounds in legal fees.

Wolves today welcomed the conviction of Willenhalls Red Lion pub, which was fined on Tuesday for showing a game through an Albanian-based TV firm.

Club chief executive Jez Moxey has criticised the use of foreign decoders, saying attendances at Molineux were 2,500 down last season because of the problem.

Spokesman Matt Grayson said today: It has been clear all along that the use of foreign equipment not only breaches copyright law, but also contravenes the 3pm closed window on a Saturday that states no broadcaster can legitimately show games at that time.
We welcome the fact that the Premier League continues to closely monitor those people illegally broadcasting football matches
West Bromwich Albion chief executive Mark Jenkins said: ;We wholeheartedly support the Premier League;s efforts to stamp out the illegal screening of matches because it is unfair on the fans who attend the clubs fixtures
Landlords today said they feel they have been left in limbo following the prosecution of the Red Lion. Ian Scott, who has managed Bar Sport in High Green, Cannock, for 12 years, said showing games through foreign decoders brought a lot of custom to the bar. heaving on a Saturday, especially for Wolves games he said.

In the Red Lion case, it seems very harsh that the authorities have been so heavy-handed over something that will be legal next month
Meanwhile Mark Whyman, landlord of the Coach and Horses, in Mill Bank, Stafford, remained defiant over his showing of games through a ?200-a-month ViaSat system. He said: Im not going to stop. I need the custom
Pete Towler, landlord at Tipton, shows games through a foreign decoder.

He said: Its such a shame because it only seems to be the smaller independent pubs that are being hit with fines.

[TheCoder]

After all said and done - apparently it is a nonsense and any publican, landlord, or place that has the rights to make public broadcasts for entertainment cannot be stopped using a foreign provider, that is until next time a high flying lawyer wants to make a few quid and make a challenge.

All very true, BUT, the aquisition of the public broadcast licence is really the problem. Rights holders can, and do, stipulate that any agent is only licenced to resell those rights in a specific geographic region. For any agent to knowingly sell outside of their assigned region would be a copyright offence and would also make the sale null and void, thus meaning the end customer did NOT have the rights for public showing.

In this particular case the legalities will very much depend on how the EPL worded any contract to the 'foreign' providers. If they stipulated geographic zoning then the foreign provider does not have a resale right to sell public performance rights outside of its geographic zone, making any such sale null and void.