Restaurants broadcasting sports games without license warned by Justice Ministry

Several restaurants in Uzbekistan have been officially warned for illegally broadcasting sports content without proper licensing. The Ministry of Justice issued the warning following a review of copyright violations reported by the Eurasian Broadcasting Enterprise Limited (UK), the owner of the “Setanta Sports” channels.

According to the ministry, the establishments “Bavaria Plaza,” “Guten,” “Dudek,” “Myata,” “Brasserie,” and “Woodu” publicly aired “Setanta Sports” programming without obtaining permission from the rights holder or an authorized entity.

“Public catering establishments must strictly adhere to copyright and related rights regulations when using protected works,” the ministry stated in its official message.

The ministry emphasized that the case was initiated after an appeal was submitted regarding the unauthorized public display of the Setanta Sports network in Uzbekistan. Based on the investigation, the aforementioned restaurants were found in violation and were formally warned in accordance with legal procedures.

As a reminder, under current legislation, authors or rights holders may demand compensation from violators ranging from 20 to 1,000 times the base calculation amount instead of actual damages.

It should be noted that previously, the “Sevimli” TV channel was fined under Article 177¹ of the Code of Administrative Responsibility for a similar offense related to copyright infringement.