Database rights – recent judgment from the Court of Appeal

On 13 July 2005 the Court of Appeal gave its judgment in British Horseracing Board v William Hill Organisation Ltd, the first substantive case concerning database rights in the UK. It was unanimously held by Lord Justices Jacob, Clarke and Pill that William Hill’s appeal against the High Court’s 2001 decision in favour of the British Horseracing Board (BHB) should be allowed, in light of the ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the scope of database rights under EC Directive 96/9 late last year. To view the ECJ judgments on database rights copy and paste the following link into your browser:

http://www.law-now.com/CS2000/internet/EN/co50law-now/co55archive/2004/databaserightsecj.htm