Law Wire has found Union des Associations Europeennes de Football and others v Briscomb and others, a decision of Mr Justice Lindsay from Monday 8 May which was noted on the Lawtel subscription-only service. This was an application for summary judgment in an action for copyright infringement brought by UEFA, the governing body for European football. In short, UEFA run an exciting if over-long football tournament called the European Champions League, games in which were broadcast live by two other claimsnts. Apart from the football games themselves, the broadcasts featured ancillary works in which UEFA purported to own the copyright, such as specially composed music, uniform branding, sequencing and the UEFA logo.
Briscomb and the other defendants transmitted the games to their subscribers via their www.sportingstreams.com website, having digitally captured and electonically processed UEFA's broadcasts. Claiming that Briscomb infringed its copyright in the broadcasts and the ancillary works by communicating them to the public contrary to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 s.20 and by copying them contrary to s.17, UEFA sought and obtained summary judgment. Lindsay J agreed that all the claims had been made out and Briscomb had no real prospect of defending them.
Rodney D. Ryder
No comments:
Post a Comment