Two recent developments, one positive and one negative,
highlight some of the serious issues that face copyright.
The positive development is that UK courts have again shown that
they are prepared to deal decisively with difficult copyright
issues posed by the electronic age. On 13 March 2017, in the case
of Football Association Premier League Limited v British
Telecommunications PLC, EE Limited, PlusNet PLC, Sky UK Limited,
TalkTalk Telecom Limited and Virgin Media
Limited, a UK court handed down a very interesting order
– described as a "live" order, apparently the first
of its kind to have been granted.
As the name of the case might suggest, it dealt with the
lucrative world of broadcasting rights for Premier League football
matches and the illegal streaming of broadcasts. Illegal streaming
has seemingly become a real problem as a result of the
proliferation of IPTV set-top boxes and other devices that connect
directly to streaming services through their IP
