Illegally broadcasting football matches in bars can be a crime against intellectual property

Illegally broadcasting football matches in bars can be a crime against intellectual property

Illegally broadcasting football matches in bars can be a crime against intellectual property. Why? The illegal transmission of football matches in public establishments is a global phenomenon that has increased in recent years. These establishments, in an attempt to attract more customers, turn to pirate streaming services to broadcast the matches without paying the required license fees.

What some bar owners may see as a harmless way to attract customers is actually a serious intellectual property crime. This practice not only deprives football teams, leagues and organizations of significant revenue, but also undermines the integrity of the game.

Crime against intellectual property

The illegal transmission of football matches in bars constitutes a crime against intellectual property. The transmission rights of the matches are protected by intellectual property laws, since the Intellectual Property Law regulates the rights of reproduction and distribution of protected works in its articles 18 and 19.

In this way, unauthorized reproduction and the distribution of content protected by copyright, since it is essential to have the relevant authorizations for this.

The legal consequences of broadcasting football matches illegally are severe. Bar owners may face significant fines, as occurred in the recent Supreme Court Ruling No. 546/2022, of June 2, where the Criminal Court sentenced a man from Valencia to pay a fine of 720 euros for having broadcast continuously several football matches in its bars whose exploitation rights were held exclusively by La Liga de Fútbol.

The Prosecutor’s Office requested that the Supreme Court consider the proven facts as a crime against intellectual property, punishable by prison sentences of six months to four years since a reform implemented in 2015.

In the ruling, written by the president of the Chamber, Manuel Marchena, the judges argue that audiovisual recordings and broadcasts by broadcasting entities are included in the scope of the right to intellectual property. Indeed, the public communication of these recordings is only legitimate if it has the permission of the person who holds the copyright.

Crime against the market and consumers

In accordance with article 270.1 of the Penal Code, since the 2015 reform, prison sentences of six months to four years are imposed on those who, with the intention of profit, reproduce, plagiarize, distribute or economically exploit, in whole or in part, a work or literary, artistic or scientific performance.

However, the magistrates have ruled in the ruling that the violation of the exclusive rights derived from the transmission of a football match cannot be classified as a “literary, artistic or scientific work or performance”. They argue that football is a sporting spectacle and not an artistic spectacle.

Likewise, although the 2015 reform of the Penal Code increased the penalties for intellectual property crime, the Court stressed in the aforementioned Sentence that it cannot be based solely on the will of the legislator, and therefore, it is necessary to analyze the entire precept and understand what it really implies.

The Court pointed out that the problem lies in the lack of correspondence between the legislative will and the legal technique to carry it out and suggested that it would have been enough to add the term “sports” to the list of “literary, artistic or scientific benefits” in the legal text.

Therefore, the sentence confirms the commission of a minor crime against the market and consumers, in accordance with article 286.4 of the Penal Code.

The importance of public awareness

Ultimately, to address this problem, concerted action is essential. Authorities must increase enforcement of intellectual property laws and take firm action against establishments that broadcast matches illegally.

At Letslaw by RSM, our team of intellectual property lawyers owill ffer a comprehensive service and adapt to the needs, requirements and desires of each of our clients, providing them with quality, agile and decisive responses.