By Paul Nicholson
October 1 – Saudi Arabia has been hit with a two-pronged billion dollar offensive from broadcaster beIN and the Qatar state over the on-going copyright theft of pirate broadcaster beoutQ. A consortium of rights holders including FIFA and the Premier League are expected to follow suit in the coming days as the Saudis rapidly turn themselves into the pariahs of the sports rights business.
beIN is claiming damages in excess of $1 billion and is seeking full compensation via an investment arbitration under the OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) agreement that protects and guarantees investments among member states.
beIN’s case against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia relates to Saudi-based pirate channel beoutQ but also Riyadh-based satellite provider Arabsat, which has been the broadcast platform for the distribution of beoutQ’s pirated signals..
The list of rights pirated by beoutQ and distributed to the Saudi market is long and includes FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League and Europa League, the English Premier League, LaLiga, France’s Ligue1 and Italy’s SerieA, as well Formula 1 motor racing, the NBA, NFL and multiple grand slam tennis events.
Other international broadcasters such as NBCUniversal Telemundo, and ELEVEN SPORTS have also had their rights pirated by beoutQ which has also stolen content from Hollywood studios.
Sophie Jordan, Executive Director of Legal Affairs – General Counsel of beIN MEDIA GROUP, said: “After failed attempts to resolve this dispute through dialogue, we have now been forced to issue a Notice of Arbitration due to Saudi Arabia’s concerted campaign to prevent beIN from operating in the country, despite beIN having the legal and commercial right to do so… Quite clearly, we are being unfairly used as a political football in a wider regional dispute. But this case has implications far beyond beIN – in beoutQ, Saudi Arabia has created a plague of piracy and unless the whole sports, entertainment and broadcast industry takes a stand, its impact will be devastating and irreversible.”
WTO offensive
While beIN has launched its investment arbitration claim, the Qatar state filed new proceedings against Saudi Arabia before the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body, “accusing the Kingdom of violating the intellectual property rights of Qatari citizens and entities under international conventions.”
H.E. Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani, Minister of Economy and Commerce said, via a press release, that Saudi Arabia’s actions are a flagrant violation of Saudi international and moral obligations and are “a failure to comply with its commitments in terms of protecting copyrights, radio and television broadcasting rights, and trademarks, among other rights, which has caused significant commercial losses for Qatari citizens and entities.”
Source: beIN Media Group
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