Football, Broadcasting and the Internal Market: Is a common audio-visual space in sight?

On 4 October 2011 the Court of Justice of the European Union will hand down its highly anticipated judgment in joined cases FA Premier League and Ors v QC Leisure and Murphy v Media Protection Services.

The cases concern pub landlords, including Karen Murphy, who contracted with satellite service providers based outside the UK whose (cheaper) broadcasts included Premier league football. The football associations argued that this was a breach of UK copyright law and the matter was referred to the ECJ.

In reconciling intellectual property rights with the free movement of services, the judgment has the potential to transform broadcasting in the EU.

Our expert panel will discuss different aspects of the judgment including reconciling intellectual property with the free movement of services as well as exploring the commercial implications of the decision. The panel includes:

Jeremy Phillips
Intellectual Property Consultant, Olswang LLP, and Blogmeister, IPKat

Lorna Woods
Professor, The City Law School

Dan Wilsher
Senior Lecturer, The City Law School

Jonathan Griffiths
Senior Lecturer, QMUL School of Law

This event provides a valuable forum for legal professionals and academics to discuss the future of the internal market in the context of sports broadcasting and other premium content.

This event is worth one CPD point for practising solicitors.