Scotland: Licensees hit with copyright infringement fines
March 17, 2023
By Colin Mann
Following successful legal action taken by Sky, licensees in Glasgow have been ordered to pay £10,000 (€11,410) in damages for infringing Sky’s copyright by showing Sky Sports programming illegally in their premises.
Sky sought and was awarded a permanent interdict in the Court of Session, Edinburgh, which prevents the below licensees and anyone acting on their behalf from infringing Sky’s copyright by showing Sky programming without the correct commercial licence. Together the licensees have been ordered to pay damages in the sum of £10,000, plus interest, and must also pay Sky’s costs and fund the publication of notices advertising the orders in local press. The premises and licensees are:
The Hoolet’s, 113 Bardykes Road, Blantyre, Glasgow, G72 9UH – Mark Flynn (PLH) and Colin MacIver (DPM)
This successful case come from Sky’s instruction of intellectual property experts Burness Paull LLP and forms a key part of Sky’s commitment to protecting pubs who invest in legitimate Sky Sports subscriptions. Sky is committed to visiting every licensed premises reported by other publicans and/or organisations for illegally showing Sky and have arranged to visit hundreds of pubs each week in towns and cities across the UK during the 2022/23 football season.
“Now more than ever it’s important to protect the investment of our customers,” stated Sara Stewart, Commercial Compliance Lead at Sky. “Businesses that show Sky Sports illegally can leave our legitimate Sky subscribers feeling short-changed.”
“We actively visit thousands of pubs every season to monitor the games they are showing to help protect hardworking Sky customers who are unfairly losing business due to this illegal activity.”
“Venues who continue to televise content in this way are breaking the law, and are at risk of being caught, which can result in licensees being ordered to pay significant damages and legal costs to Sky, and/or losing their personal licence,” she warned.