The Business Law Reports
[2012] Bus LR 1321
Court of Justice of the European Union
Football Association Premier League Ltd and others v QC Leisure and others
Murphy
v
Media Protection Services Ltd
(Joined Cases C-403/08 and C-429/08)
2011 Feb 3;
Oct 4
President V Skouris
Presidents of Chamber A Tizzano, J N Cunha Rodrigues, K Lenaerts, J-C Bonichot, A Arabadjiev, J-J Kasel, Judges A Borg Barthet, M Ilešič, J Malenovský, T von DanwitzAdvocate General J Kokott
European Union— Free competition— Restriction or distortion of competition— Broadcasting— Claimant operating system of licences for broadcast of football matches— Each licensee granted exclusive right to broadcast matches in single member state— Each subscriber requiring decoder card to decrypt licensee’s satellite signal— Licensees prohibited under licence agreement from supplying decoder cards to persons outside member state for which licence granted— Businesses in United Kingdom using decoder cards obtained by subterfuge from foreign licensee— Whether cards “illicit device”— Whether national legislation prohibiting import, sale or use of foreign decoder cards contrary to freedom to provide services— Whether objective of protecting intellectual property rights justifying prohibition— Whether contractual prohibition on supplying decoder cards contrary to EU competition law— Whether transient fragments of protected works on television screen “acts of reproduction”— Whether acts exempt— Whether transmission of works “communication to the public” for which authorisation required—
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (c 48), ss 297, 298
—
FEU Treaty
, arts 56FEU, 101FEU
—
Council Directive 98/84/EC, arts 2, 3
—
Council Directive 2001/29/EC, arts 2, 3, 5