The claimants asserted ownership of copyright in football fixture lists as a database right. The defendant denied that they attracted any such right. The judge had found that significant skill and labour went into the preparation of the list.
Held: The appeal failed in general, but the court referred a limited questiion to the ECJ as to whether the Directive replaced or was additional to any existing national copyrights in such works.
Judges:
Jacob, Hooper, Rimer LJJ
Citations:
[2011] RPC 9, [2010] EWCA Civ 1380
Links:
Statutes:
Database Directive (96/9/EC), Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Football Dataco Ltd and Others v Brittens Pools Ltd (In Action 3222) and Others ChD 23-Apr-2010
The court considered what rights existed in the annual football fixture lists created by the claimants. The claimants said that the list was created only with a considerable effort applying certain rules. The defendants denied that any copyright . .
Mentioned – Commissioners of Customs and Excise v Century Life Plc CA 19-Dec-2000
The Directive required member states to exempt from VAT, services involving the provision of insurance, and for intermediaries. Following the Regulator’s involvement, the principal company had to arrange for the checking of existing policies, and . .
Cited – Fixtures Marketing v Oy Veikkaus Ab ECJ 9-Nov-2004
Europa Directive 96/9/EC – Legal protection of databases – Sui generis right – Definition of investment in the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents of a database – Football fixture lists – . .
Cited – Fixtures Marketing v Organismos prognostikon agonon podosfairou AE (OPAP) ECJ 9-Nov-2004
ECJ The term database as defined in Article 1(2) of Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases refers to any collection of works, data or . .
Cited – Fixtures Marketing v Svenska ECJ 9-Nov-2004
ECJ (Approximation of Laws) Directive 96/9/EC – Legal protection of databases – Sui generis right – Definition of investment in the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents of a database – Football . .
See Also – Football Dataco Ltd and Others v Brittens Pools Ltd and Others ChD 26-Nov-2009
. .
Cited by:
Cited – Forensic Telecommunications Services Ltd v West Yorkshire Police and Another ChD 9-Nov-2011
The claimant alleged infringement by the defendant of assorted intellectual property rights in its database. It provided systems for recovering materials deleted from Nokia mobile phones.
Held: ‘the present case is concerned with a collection . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property, European
Updated: 23 July 2022; Ref: scu.426999