Karen Murphy: "fantastic relief" to win Premier League case
In an exclusive interview inside the High Court earlier today with the Publican’s Morning Advertiser, Murphy said this proves that the big companies do not always dictate the rules.
The High Court ruling quashed Murphy’s 2006 conviction for using Greek channel Nova to show live football in her pub, the Red, White and Blue in Portsmouth. However, the judge said he could not rule on the issue of copyright.
On questioned on whether she will continue to use European satellite decoders Murphy said: “Obviously I am not going to breach any actual laws but I would say watch this space on that.”
Speaking outside the court, Murphy added: "If we can start using new boxes, it is fantastic news (for pubs) because every pub is struggling at the moment with beer prices, with tax, and with everything."
Lawyer Paul Dixon from Molesworths Bright Clegg, who represented Murphy, said: “We have always thought the prosecution against her (Murphy) was just wholly unsustainable and that has been proven to be the case today.
“Anybody in Karen’s position needs to consider what they are doing, they need to take proper advice, and then to act accordingly. There are still some issues as we know as regards showing foreign broadcasts of Premier League matches in pubs, some copyright issues that came out of the case a couple of weeks ago, so people need to be guided carefully and seek proper advice.
"My message to pubs at the moment would be to look very carefully at the judgment from Lord Justice Kitchin a couple of weeks ago, take proper advice on it, take it on board, and then consider how best to proceed after that.That will be the same message for everybody who is involved (including suppliers).”
