Copyright For Football Fixture Lists – AG Opinion On Database Directive

Football Dataco Ltd and Others v Yahoo! UK Ltd and Others  was referred to the ECJ by the UK Court of Appeal.  The Court queried whether English and Scottish football fixture lists are protected by database copyright under Directive 96/9/EC (the "Database Directive").  In December 2011, Advocate General Mengozzi (the "AG") delivered an opinion on the interpretation of Article 3 of the Database Directive and whether there is copyright in football fixture lists.

Background

Prior to the implementation of the Database Directive, databases were protected in the UK under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the "1988 Act").  The Database Directive was passed to harmonise the legal protection given to databases across the Member States.