A Fife pub has been ordered to pay Sky a hefty £10,000 after showing Sky programming illegally without the proper commercial licence.
Licensees of the Thistle Tavern in Dunfermline have been told to pay Sky damages plus interest after the TV giant sought and were awarded court order against three Scottish pubs through the Court of Session.
Legal action was also taken against those in charge of the Fourways pub in Wishaw and the Ellwyn in Grangemouth for the same reason.
It is understood that undercover investigators visited all three pubs involved following tip-offs from members of the public that Sky Sports channels were being shown without the requisite licence.
Sky has secured a permanent interdict against the Thistle Tavern, which is in the town’s Baldrigeburn area, which will prevent the licensees and anyone acting on their behalf from infringing Sky’s copyright by showing events without the commercial licence needed.
All of the pubs were also ordered to pay costs and fund the placement of notices advertising the rulings in the press.
George Lawson, head of commercial piracy at Sky, said: “These rulings demonstrate the seriousness of this issue and through the orders to fund advertising we hope to highlight the consequences of televising Sky’s content illegally.
“We are committed to visiting thousands of pubs every season to monitor the games they are showing, as well as investigating suppliers to protect Sky customers who are unfairly losing business due to this illegal activity.”
Sky Sports is only available to licensed premises in the UK via a commercial viewing agreement, directly from Sky Business.
The court order refers to previous owner Nicholas Whewell and Radical Road Limited, with the pub understood to be under new ownership.
