Advocate General supports Team Yahoo in fight over football
fixture lists
15 December 2011
Today, Advocate General Mengozzi delivered his Opinion to the
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on some "short" and
"simple" questions referred to the CJEU by the English Court of
Appeal in the case of Football Dataco Ltd and Ors v Yahoo! UK
Ltd.
The Opinion relates to the scope of copyright protection for
databases. The Opinion states that a database, including the likes
of football fixture lists and TV listings, can only be protected by
copyright if it is an original intellectual creation of its author.
Any creative effort in determining the elements of the database is
a data creation activity and so does not count.
Mark Daniels, an expert in copyright law at Browne Jacobson,
commented:
“AG Mengozzi's Opinion, if followed by the CJEU, will be a blow
to the creators of sporting fixture lists and similar databases. No
matter how much creative effort goes into the difficult task of
creating a set of sporting fixtures, copyright in the database will
only subsist if the presentation of the database is also in some
way creative.”