Premier League opens new office to tackle piracy

The Premier League has opened a dedicated office for the purposes of tackling piracy on behalf of both its members and its partners. Since selling the TV rights for a record £5.1b in the last round (for broadcast rights from 2019 to 2022), it appears there is a new resolve to tackle the persistent digital piracy of live matches.

The new office is located in Tanjong Pagar, in the Central Business District in Singapore. Given its location, we imagine that it will not be dealing much with "live" piracy combatting measures, and instead take a policy-led approach to bringing down the pirates.

This is a departure from the Premier League's current strategy that has involved lots of High Court injunctions in England and Wales. The Premier League's Director of Broadcasting has described the Asia-Pacific region as "strategically important" and said that Singapore "provides an excellent location for our first international office".  He went on to explain that the deployment of local expertise and resources will inform the strategy of anti-piracy measures in the region.

Singapore has no doubt also been chosen as one of the few Asian jurisdictions with a consistent and evidenced hard-line approach to piracy. The Singapore High Court has adjudicated on Premier League matters in the past, last year awarding an injunction ordering an internet service provider to block access to a popular streaming site over copyright infringement.

If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniel & Co. on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.