Dear Sir,

Contrary to Donald Trelford's assertion in his excellent column that “we all know, we have been receiving (UK TV in Majorca) illegally anyway, using subscriptions bought for the UK”, this is incorrect. Following the ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on 4 October 2011 in ‘Karen Murphy v Media Protection Services Limited and Football Association Premier League Limited and Others v QC Leisure and Others' which deals with the effect of EU competition law within the single market on the use of foreign TV digiboxes in different EU Member States, it has been confirmed that EU law guarantees private individuals a right to import decoding equipment into another EU Member State for the purpose of private use. Different principles of law, concerning the infringement of copyright, may arise in the context of a public use i.e. by having the UK TV on display to the public in a bar. This, of course, may end up being academic if we cannot receive those TV channels in the first place! James Martin
Puerto Pollensa & Surrey