Premier League wins ‘Kodi box’ court order
March 9, 2017
By Colin Mann
On March 8th, an application for a Court Order, that will result in servers streaming unauthorised English Premier League content being blocked, was heard and granted in the English High Court.
The Premier League (PL) is currently engaged in a range of activity to protect its IP, and the significant investment made in the competition by UK live broadcast partners Sky Sports and BT Sport. This activity includes:
- Investigations and prosecution of suppliers of IPTV boxes that enable the broadcast of unauthorised PL content
- Legal actions against pubs and commercial premises that broadcast unauthorised PL content
- Court Orders and injunctions forcing ISPs to block certain websites and domains
- Shutting down illegal streams/cleaning sites of infringing material
- The PL has been involved in several recent successful actions that have resulted in custodial sentences, injunctions being granted against sellers and pubs, and significant costs awards
“The Premier League has been granted significant blocking remedies to further curtail the availability of illegal streams,” said a Premier League spokesman. “For the first time this will enable the Premier League to disrupt and prevent the illegal streaming of our matches via IPTV, so-called Kodi, boxes. The Order was granted under Section 97a of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, and further demonstrates our intellectual property rights are protected by the law.”
“This will enable us to target the suppliers of illegal streams to IPTV boxes, and the Internet, in a proportionate and precise manner.”
“We will continue working with ISPs, government and other sports content producers to protect consumers from illegitimate services that offer no recourse when services are removed, provide no parental controls and, in many instances, are provided by individuals involved in other criminal activity,” he concluded.
The Government and the IPO are sympathetic to the issues facing content owners and, following positive discussions with them, the Premier League has successfully applied for further significant blocking remedies available under Section 97a of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act (CDPA).
The new block will enable a proportionate and targeted restriction of content that would otherwise have been proliferated to unauthorised websites and IPTV devices.
On March 6th 2017, a man in the northeast England city of Hartlepool who sold illegal Internet TV boxes that allowed pubs and clubs to screen pay-to-view TV free of charge received a suspended prison sentence and was ordered to pay £250,000 (€289,000).