Gaznandi
Admin
Posts : 6723
Join date : 2009-08-11
Age : 59
Location : Wet Beaver Creek
 |  Subject: Teen Faces £5k Fine For Filming Highland League Footie Team.  Fri Dec 18, 2009 7:06 am | |
| A schoolboy has been threatened with a £5,000 fine for filming his local football team on behalf of loyal fans who could not make the games David Smith, 16, has filmed Scottish team Buckie Thistle for two years so elderly and housebound fans and those who are offshore or abroad do not miss out on the action.
Many fans of the Jags work on oil rigs and rely on the YouTube service to keep up to date with the games.
But the teenager has been told by Highland League chairman John Grant he is breaching copyright laws because it owns the rights to any footage shot.
The Buckie High School pupil said: "I’ve done it for two years and I’ve never been contacted by the league or Scottish Football Association (SFA).
"John Grant immediately came up and said he was fining me £5,000."
David claims he informed the SFA he was filming matches and was told he was only prohibited from recording cup matches.
Mr Grant defended his actions, saying: "I asked him if he had permission to video this game, as it was the copyright of the league.
"He was advised by me that he may have to pay royalties and the sum could amount to £5,000."
Mark Duncan from Buckie Thistle told Sky News Online that 800 people had signed a petition demanding that the fine be dropped.
He said: "There's a way of going about speaking to people - but going about being like a bull in a china shop is not it. It's unacceptable the way the boy has been treated."
Mr Duncan told Sky News that he did not expect the fine to be imposed.
The league chairman must first win the support of the 18-strong league committee, which will meet in January, if he is to punish David. | |
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Bee
Lifer
Posts : 3020
Join date : 2009-08-15
Age : 43
Location : Eckythump
| | Subject: Re: Teen Faces £5k Fine For Filming Highland League Footie Team. Fri Dec 18, 2009 10:28 am | |
| This is the team that gets pasted by 7 or 8 goals every week | |
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