English Premier League wins case against First Row Sports

The English Premier League has secured a high court verdict in its favour in the fight against piracy.

In a judgement by the High Court, the six main UK-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are now to block access to one of the largest illegal live football-streaming websites in the United Kingdom.

The court has ruled that the First Row Sports platform was acting in conjunction with third party streaming services to offer live footage of English Premier League games in breach of the League’s copyright.

Previously, Section 97A of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 had been used by the music and film industries for protection from illegal streaming sites, but this will be the first time that a sporting body has acted towards blocking a site that infringes its copyright.

A Premier League spokesman said: “We are extremely pleased that the order blocking this website has been granted and we will be enforcing it, in conjunction with the ISPs, ahead of the 2013-14 Barclay’s Premier League season”.

He went on to add that it was absolutely important for content industries to be given protection under the law. Only then would it be possible to continue investing in quality talent and sporting facilities that creates interest among sports fans.

This ruling comes at a time when the Premier League’s highly profitable new set of UK rights deals come into effect this season. The League has seen a massive 70% rise in the value of its broadcast rights in June 2012, with BSkyB and BT spending a combined £3.018 billion in an agreement for the 2013-14 and 2015-16 seasons.

source: soccerex