Glasgow bar guilty of Sky Sports copyright breach

Sarah McIntosh, designated premises manager at the Alavon Bar in Kent Road, was shown to have breached Sky’s copyright following a three-day trial at Edinburgh’s Court of Session (Scotland’s High Court).

Avalonbar Ltd – the company that was set up by her father David McIntosh – was also found in breach of the rules.

Sky raised a civil action after investigation company ID Inquiries discovered that customers were watching the Celtic v Ross County Premier League game last August. It came just a month after Avalonbar Ltd acquired the lease for the pub.

The defendants were also found guilty of contempt of court after breaching an interim interdict order (temporary injunction) passed by the court last September for screening Sky Sports programming illegally.

It was reported by the court that the Scotland v Belgium World Cup qualifier was shown in the bar just hours after the interim interdict order was issued. A further hearing will be held for the judge to assess and award damages and costs.

Enforcement campaign​

Sky is continuing its enforcement campaign against those who infringe its copyright by showing Sky programming in their premises illegally.

Last October, Mark Daly the designated premises manager at Glasgow’s Old College Bar was ordered to pay £10,000 in damages, plus Sky’s legal costs, as well as fund the placing of notices advertising the ruling for showing Sky Sports in his premises without the required commercial viewing agreement.

Alison Dolan, deputy managing director at Sky Business, said: “We will continue to carry out our enforcement campaign against copyright infringement in Scotland to ensure that the thousands of law-abiding pubs and clubs in the region are not left short-changed by a minority of licensees who fraudulently show Sky Sports programmes illegally in their premises.

“Our recent successful actions in Scotland clearly demonstrate the seriousness of the issue and Sky will not hesitate to take further legal action.”

Colin Hulme, partner and head at Burness Paull, the legal firm acting for Sky, said: “The courts are sending a clear message – licensees who show Sky Sports programming without a commercial viewing agreement in place are committing copyright infringement and they must face the legal consequences of that."