Pub owner-lady ‘Karen Murphy’ triumphs TV football court case

A pub landlady has succeeded her court battle with the English Premier League over utilizing a Greek TV decoder to screen games.

Karen Murphy has paid just about £8,000 in fines and costs for using the cheaper decoder in her Portsmouth pub to go around controls over match viewing.

But she took her case to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

It found somewhat in her approval, and now the High Court in London has also found in her support.

The case has been strictly evaluated as it could set off a huge shake-up in the way football TV rights are sold, and potentially cover the way to cheaper watching of foreign screens for supporters of top-flight English games.

Ms. Murphy has used up six years battling a suit for telecasting live football at the Red White and Blue pub without a Sky contribution.

The High Court in London on Friday verdict that Karen Murphy's appeal over utilizing the decoder to go around controls over match viewing must be permitted.

But a judge made categorically that many other composite issues relating to the broader legality of viewing matches would have to be certain "at a later date".

The High Court had formerly sent the case to the European courts for recommendation on several points of law.

The ECJ said last autumn that national laws that ban the import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards were opposed to the liberty to supply services.

The European judges also said the Premier League could not maintain copyright over Premier League matches as they could not be believed to be an author's own "rational creation" and, consequently, to be "works" for the objectives of EU copyright law.

But it did offer some relief for the Premier League, which collects huge margins through its private telecasting deals with Sky and ESPN.

 The European court said that while live matches were not secured by copyright, any adjacent media, such as any opening video series, the Premier League anthem, pre-recorded movies screening highlights of fresh Premier League matches and numerous graphics, were "works" secured by copyright.

To utilization any of these additional parts connected for a telecast, a pub would require the authorization of the Premier League.