UEFA, Premier League and Canal+ International, welcome decision of Rwandan court in the fight against piracy

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), organizer and owner of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League competitions, the Football Association Premier League Limited, organizer and owner of the English Premier League (EPL) competition and Canal+ International, their broadcast partner in French-language for these competitions in the territory of the Republic of Rwanda welcome the decision No RCOMA 00877/2019/HCC rendered on 9 September 2020 in their favour by the Commercial High Court of Rwanda against the Rwandan TV channel “Victory TV Ltd”.

The Commercial High Court found Victory TV’s grounds of appeal baseless and confirmed the earlier decision of the lower court no RCOM 00869/2019/TC, which had ordered the operator of the TV channel to cease the unlawful broadcast of English Premier League, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches in the territory of Rwanda.

Following these decisions, the regulatory authority (RURA, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority) ordered Victory TV by decision of 28 September 2020, to stop broadcasting these competitions under penalty of having its broadcasting license suspended.

UEFA and the English Premier League note that the making available of footage of their respective competitions without authorization is an infringement of their intellectual property rights and are pleased to see this principle (and the protection of our rights) has been robustly supported by the Rwandan courts of law and the regulatory authority.