Pay-Per-View Wrestles With Bar Owners

On the evening of May 8, 2010, Juan Castillo walked up to Plaza Mexico Bar & Grill in a strip mall in Laredo, Tex., paid the $5 cover, then went inside and ordered a Coors Light. He began watching the televised Ultimate Fighting Championship bout between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. In the 25 minutes Castillo was in the restaurant, he counted 80 patrons enjoying the action, including Koscheck getting kicked in the eye during the mixed martial arts fight. He also took three photographs to chronicle his visit.

That description by Castillo in court documents led to a federal court order for Plaza Mexico to turn over $32,500 to the UFC’s sales agent for not paying the $1,100 commercial fee to show the pay-per-view event. Promoters such as Joe Hand Promotions, UFC’s exclusive commercial pay-per-view licensee in the U.S., the UFC itself, and J&J Sports Productions, which promotes boxing matches, have filed thousands of suits against bars, restaurants, and other U.S. businesses to punish such video “pirates,” claiming they and residential cheaters cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue. Many suits are based on the work of undercover investigators armed with cameras. “These types of lawsuits are part of our comprehensive antipiracy efforts,” says Lawrence Epstein, general counsel for Las Vegas-based Zuffa, which owns Ultimate Fighting Championship.