Premier League fixture list charge queried by ECJ advocate general

The ability of the Premier League and other sporting leagues to charge for their fixture lists has been cast into doubt by the opinion of an officer of the European court of justice (ECJ). The advocate general Paolo Mengozzi appeared to refute the claim of Football Dataco, the holding company that exploits the fixture lists of the English and Scottish leagues, that intellectual property rights reside in their annually created list of fixtures. The opinion of the advocate general is not binding, but is usually followed by the European court of justice when reaching its decisions, which are then passed back to the appropriate national jurisdiction. Football Dataco is arguing that copyright exists in the fixture list under the European Database Directive and UK copyright law. It is attempting to take legal action against websites and bookmakers, including Yahoo! and Stan James, who had used fixture information from a rival provider with no arrangement with Football Dataco. A British judge earlier ruled that while there was no general copyright residing in the fixture list, it could be protected under the EU's database law. Yahoo! and Stan James appealed in the high court and the case was referred to the European court. "The effort expended in the creation of the data cannot be taken into consideration for the purposes of assessing the eligibility for protection of the database as such," Mengozzi said in his opinion. Such a database can be protected by copyright, he said, "only if it is an original intellectual creation of its author". "I must also observe that, in the present case, the very idea of using copyright to protect football fixture lists seems peculiar, to say the least," the advocate general added. A final ruling from the ECJ is expected next year. While newspapers are not affected by the case, as their rights are bound up with wider negotiations with the Newspaper Publishing Association, the outcome could have wide ranging implications for websites and bookmakers. Clive Hawkswood, chief executive of the Remote Gaming Association, said: "We welcome the findings of the advocate general in this case and, in due course, we would expect both the courts of justice of the European Union and the British courts to adopt the same approach. Sporting bodies have attempted several times to use IP [intellectual property] right arguments and the Database Directive to extract significant funds from media and betting organisations. "We hope that this opinion and the final ruling in this case discourages them from doing so again." But the Premier League would argue that significant investment and resource goes into drawing up the fixture list, including liaising with police and local authorities, and that it is entitled to appropriate compensation. It is also possible that the ECJ could endorse Mengozzi's opinion but reserve the right of national courts to decide whether sport is a special case in copyright terms.