Following successful legal action taken by Sky, licensees in Glasgow, Dundee, Lanarkshire and East Lothian have each been ordered to pay £10,000 in damages for infringing copyright by showing Sky Sports programming illegally in their premises.
Sky sought and was awarded permanent injunctions in Edinburgh's Court of Session which prevent the licensees and anyone acting on their behalf from infringing showing Sky programming without the correct commercial licence.
The pubs have been ordered to pay damages, 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:
- Bridge Inn, Baillieston – E J A Solutions Ltd (Tenant) and Lauren McGowan (DPM).
- Crown and Kitchen, East Linton – William Robertson (PLH) and Ross Clark (DPM).
- Masons Arms, Carnwath – Irene Emery (PLH) and Amanda McGuinness (DPM).
- Mun Lounger and Beer Garden, Dundee – Derrick Murdoch (Tenant) and Helen Moncrieff (DPM).
These cases come from Sky’s instruction to intellectual property lawyers from Burness Paull and form part of Sky’s commitment to protecting pubs which invest in legitimate Sky Sports subscriptions.
Sara Stewart, compliance manager at Sky, added : “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 which 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.”
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