Football’s English Premier League has today (Monday) opened its first international office in Singapore, with the new base set to aid the organisation’s fight against the growing threat posed by piracy of its broadcast rights.
Based in Tanjong Pagar, the office will provide a base for the Asia-Pacific region and has primarily been established to fight piracy of Premier League content and support broadcast partners. This will include deploying the league’s enforcement programme across multiple markets and assisting licensees with activation of their rights and promotion of the competition.
The Premier League said Singapore has one of the most developed, effective and influential legal structures in the region with a long history of recognising intellectual property rights.
The Premier League’s anti-piracy efforts in Asia have already been extensive and include blocking action against illegal apps in Singapore, the commencement of criminal action against suppliers of illicit streaming devices and very recently, working with the Thai authorities to support raids of suppliers of illicit streaming devices.
The League is also a member of the Coalition Against Piracy, which represents the creative industries across the region.
The Premier League’s director of broadcasting, Paul Molnar, said: “The Asia-Pacific region is strategically important for the Premier League and its clubs. Singapore provides an excellent location for our first international office and we look forward to using this base to support our many broadcast partners across the region.
“Equally, it is critical that we now deploy local resource and expertise to combat the increasing threat of piracy which undermines all stakeholders in the creative industry.”
