In July 2020, the eastern High Court of Denmark determined that the well-known live sports TV site, Rojadirecta, is illegal – and must be blocked by Danish ISPs.
To counteract claims by made by Rojadirecta’s hosting company that the site was legal because it also carried legal programming, the Spanish football league LaLiga, collaborated with the Danish Rights Alliance to win the decision.
Read the Danish Rights Alliance news release
Why it matters
According to Rights Alliance, this is a first time blocking of live streams of tv content and it serves as a milestone in the work on rights protection and it sets a legal precedent. When the case went to court in 2018, Rojadirect was getting at least 19,000 Danish visitors per month.
The decision also has implications for other sports broadcasters.
“We negotiate exclusive broadcasting rights to the Danish Superliga championships,” said Claus Thomsen, director of the Danish League. “The rights lose all value if the matches are streamed for free elsewhere, and therefore it is absolutely crucial that we can put an end to the illegal streaming going forward.”
But the job’s not done
Rojadirecta is still available outside of Denmark. Â This screen-shot was taken in the United States on August 28, 2020.
