Football authorities unable to enforce their IP in Saudi Arabia
Leading world football authorities believe they have exhausted all legal options in Saudi Arabia in their bid to crackdown on pirate broadcaster beoutQ.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, July 31, bodies including FIFA, UEFA, the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga, the Italian Serie A, and the Confederation of African Football said that they had engaged with nine different law firms in Saudi Arabia over the past 15 months, none of whom were willing to represent them.
Some firms refused to take the case, while others later recused themselves after initially accepting instruction from the football authorities, the statement said.
“As copyright holders we have reached the conclusion, regrettably, that it is now not possible to retain legal counsel in Saudi Arabia which is willing or able to act on our behalf in filing a copyright complaint against beoutQ,” it added.
Various copyright owners, including Qatari-based broadcaster beIN Media, have accused the Saudi government of backing beoutQ, which is believed to be operating from inside the country.
“Following thorough analysis by technical experts of how beoutQ operates from a technical perspective, we are satisfied that beoutQ is operating specifically to target customers in Saudi Arabia and is utilising the facilities of at least one Saudi Arabia-based entity,” the latest joint statement from the footballing authorities stated.
beIN Media has alleged, alongside the Confederation of African Football, that beoutQ is broadcast via Arabsat, a regional satellite operator based in Saudi Arabia, and of which the Saudi government is the largest shareholder.
Arabsat has consistently denied any role in broadcasting pirate streams, while Saudi officials have long rejected allegations of state involvement in beoutQ as baseless.
Yesterday’s statement stopped short of pointing the finger of blame at the Saudi government itself, noting that the bodies had welcomed previous statements from Saudi officials condemning beoutQ.
But more, they said, still needed to be done in order to tackle the pirate operation. According to the statement, they are convinced that they will not be able to seek legal recourse within Saudi Arabia itself.
“We feel we have now exhausted all reasonable options for pursuing a formal copyright claim in KSA and see no alternative but to pursue beoutQ and a solution to this very serious problem of piracy by other means,” the group said.
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