A Co Kerry pub has been ordered to pay damages of €20,000 to Sky for using a “dodgy box” to show Premier League soccer.
Sky sued Ballinagare Tavern Limited and Pat Keane in a case that came before Judge Sinéad Behan at the Circuit Civil Court in Tralee on Tuesday. There was no appearance by the defendants.
Sky services include Sky Sports, which broadcasts some Premier League matches.
The court heard that when Sky representatives called to the Railway Bar in Lixnaw on eight separate occasions during the 2018/2019; 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 seasons, Premier League matches were being shown on a television.
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The pub had no contract with Sky and no licence to broadcast the matches, said Micheál Munnelly, Sky’s barrister. The company wrote to the pub telling them to cease and desist, but they failed to do so.
Some €49,632 in fees were due to Sky, allowable under the Copyright Act, the barrister said.
Sky witness Michael Murphy visited the Railway Bar in October 2019 when a Manchester United vs Liverpool match was being shown.
He described the premises as “small and modest” with one television. He said patrons were in the bar – though he could not say how many – and there was one staff member behind the bar.
Catherine O’Sullivan, Sky’s policing operations manager, told the court that commercial agreements were available for pubs, clubs, hotels and offices. The fees charged are banded and depend on the pub’s turnover.
[ Dodgy boxes: Could I end up in court if I own one?Opens in new window ]
She outlined the fees owed by the Lixnaw pub, which amounted to €17,316 for the 2022/2023 period alone. Fees for pubs and clubs in the State were calculated when the premises supplied its licence. When a licence is not supplied, as was the case here, they are calculated at the highest level.
Judge Behan asked if what the pub was using what is commonly known as a “dodgy box”.
Mr Munnelly said the judge had used the colloquial name for a “protection-defeating device”, the primary purpose of which is to bypass or avoid copyright protection.
Ms O’Sullivan said using such devices gave unfair advantage to those pubs not paying Sky fees and her “job is to protect customers paying the appropriate fee”.
Mr Munnelly told the court as well as the fees of more than €49,000, he was seeking an order prohibiting future use of the device to infringe Sky’s copyright.
Judge Behan found a breach of copyright had occurred. Noting that the Railway Bar Lixnaw was a rural, modest premises with one television, one staff member and a small number of customers, she awarded Sky damages of €20,000.
She also granted an order “restraining the defendants from infringing the copyright of Sky services at their bar in Lixnaw”.