Sky is chasing a Dublin pub for nearly €40,000 over illegal sports broadcasts

SKY IS SEEKING up to €38,000 in “aggravated and exemplary damages” against a Dublin pub it claims has ignored court orders restraining unlawful broadcasting of its coverage of rugby, soccer and GAA matches.

Barrister Elizabeth Walsh, representing Sky, told the Circuit Civil Court today that Molloy’s pub in Talbot Street, Dublin, continued to ignore orders restraining it from showing the broadcaster’s programmes without a licence.

Walsh told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that in 2014 Sky had obtained judgment against Molloy’s and injunctions restraining any further breach of copyright.

She said Treetop Taverns Limited, which trades as Molloy’s pub, had continuously ignored demands and all communications relating to the proceedings and had shown no regard whatever for the court’s orders.

Scottish-based Sky operations executive Karen Anderson said the publican did not hold any agreement with Sky covering a pubs and clubs or any other licence that would allow it to broadcast SkySports events.

Brendan Supple, a private investigator, told the court he had secretly visited Molloy’s on several occasions and had seen English Premier League matches, a Munster rugby game and a Dublin-Laois GAA match being broadcast on large screens in the pub.

Walsh told the court there had been no appearance in court on behalf of Molloy’s which had ignored all efforts by Sky to respond to its efforts to have the pub take out a commercial licence with it or stop breaching its copyright.

Sky has warned Treetop Taverns that it is a criminal offence to infringe copyright, with the breach carrying a maximum fine of €127,000 and or imprisonment of up to five years.

Judge Linnane said she had noted the evidence put before the court but adjourned the proceedings to allow Sky to notify the publican of its intention to proceed with its claims.

Molloy's pub in Dublin

Treetop Taverns was ordered in the Circuit Court to pay €9,300 to Sky in 2014 for back-royalties over the broadcasting of a string of English soccer matches.

The most recent accounts for the company, which lists its directors as Patrick and John Lawless, show it had accumulated losses of nearly €2.3 million in late 2014. It averaged five staff through the year, down from seven in 2013.

Additional reporting Peter Bodkin