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Next Game: Brentwood In The FA Trophy At Edgar Street On Saturday 16th November At 3.00pm

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Fixture List Not Copyright Says Euro Court

The Football League's fixture list cannot be copyrighted, a European Court has judged.

The League, through it's Football DataCo licencing partner, had taken Yahoo, Stan James, and sports firm Enetpulse to court after the trio refused to buy licences to use the data. The case was passed by the High Court to Europe for clarification on key points, with the European judges backing the three firms.

The judgement says: "A football fixture list cannot be protected by copyright when its compilation is dictated by rules or constraints which leave no room for creative freedom."

Speaking to the BBC, copyright expert Mark Daniels said the ruling, once it had been ratified by the High Court, meant the League could no longer sell licences to use the data. Thousands of licences are sold each year with clients including national media and bookmakers right down to fan sites like Bulls News.

Those licence sales are worth millions each season to the League.