Heavy fine for Sky Sports infringer
June 20, 2023
By Colin Mann
Following successful legal action taken by Sky, a licensee in Donegal, Ireland, has been ordered to pay €16,188 in damages for infringing Sky’s copyright by showing Sky Sports programming illegally in their premises.
A permanent court injunction prohibiting the licensee from showing Sky programming in the premises without the correct commercial viewing agreement from Sky Business has also been awarded, along with an order to give up any devices on which Sky’s copyright could be further breached.
The premises and licensee are:
Swill Inn, Ballyraine, Letterkenny, Co Donegal F92 KC80- Joseph Mc Fadden (licensee)
This successful case comes from Sky’s instruction of intellectual property legal expert Addleshaw Goddard (Ireland) 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 Ireland this upcoming season.
“Now more than ever it’s important to protect the investment of our customers,” declared Sara Stewart, Head of Compliance at Sky Business. “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,” Stewart warned.