Zuffa Moving Forward In Bar Lawsuit For Illegal PPV Broadcasting

The parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship has sued two northern South Dakota bars, claiming the establishments pirated a pay-per-view event last fall.


On July 1, Zuffa filed a copyright lawsuit in U.S. District Court in South Dakota against Robert John Kohl, owner of the Main Street Bar and Casino in Sisseton. One week later, the Las Vegas-based corporation filed a similar complaint against Jason Miller, manager of Jake's Pub and Casino in Aberdeen.

Both lawsuits claim the owners pirated the UFC 121 broadcast Oct. 23 and screened the fights for patrons without paying the license fee required for a commercial exhibition.

Zuffa is asking for $210,000 to $260,000 in damages, depending on how the owners pirated the fights.

To pirate the broadcast, the lawsuit says, Kohl and Miller could have paid the residential price for the pay-per-view event without notifying Zuffa that the broadcast would be shown to patrons, spliced a coaxial cable or brought a home receiver to their businesses.

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