Cafes illegally airing football matches shown the red card

AMMAN – A crackdown is intensifying on cafes which illegally show football matches, with the National Library Department (NLD) intensifying its efforts during Ramadan, which coincides with the UEFA Champions League, an informed official said on Monday.

“Some cafes buy the family subscription packages from the satellite channel providers, instead of the commercial one, in order to cut cost,” NLD Director General Mohammad Abbadi told The Jordan Times on Monday. 

He noted that the department has so far fined 29 cafes and referred them to court for violating the law, a phenomenon that is most apparent when there are international sport championships, such as the World Cup. 

On the other hand, Abbadi highlighted that the number of overall cases referred to court during Ramadan is lower than any other month, mainly due to the fact that citizens change their interests during the holy month. 

“TV series and family visits occupy most of people’s  time, and therefore they become less interested in gaming centres or buying DVDs,” he noted, saying that this reduces the number of violations tracked by the NLD. 

During an average month, the department refers around 25 cases of violations to court, but the number drops to 15 during Ramadan, according to Abbadi, who indicated that most infringements are uncovered in Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and Aqaba. 

In an earlier interview with The Jordan Times, the NLD director general had said that decoding satellite channels and technological fraud constitute the main challenges facing the department these days.   

While pirated CDs and DVDs used to be the main issues facing the Jordanian market, the increase in the number of smartphones has prompted people to rely on the Internet for download purposes, according to Abbadi. 

“Supplying paid satellite channel feeds, technological fraud and the pirating of books are the main issues we are dealing with today,” he told The Jordan Times. 

Since the start of this year and until the beginning of May, the NLD has referred 92 cases to court for violating intellectual property rights and has confiscated 5,582 pirated items, including DVDs, CDs, books and satellite-channel decoding devices. 

The Jordanian Copyright Law stipulates that it is a crime to download software, music or movies that are protected by legislation. 

Offenders face a prison sentence of between three months and three years and a fine ranging from JD1,000 to JD6,000. 

“Jordan is at the forefront regionally when it comes to law enforcement in this area,” Abbadi said. 

Last year, more than 317 cases were referred to the courts for intellectual property right infringements, according to the NLD.