For the life of me, I cannot see how - telling fans where there team is playing, and going to be playing - is breaking the law.
That's like Coldplay doing a British tour and not telling everyone where the venues are.
It is absolute utter BOLLOX!
Now a claim for copyright over football fixture lists has been rejected by European judges.
A ruling in Luxembourg said that although compiling such lists required "significant" work and skill, it lacked the creativity required for copyright protection.
"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," said the judges.
UK company Football Dataco, responsible for protecting the rights acquired in English and Scottish football league fixtures, accused internet site Yahoo, bookmaker Stan James and sports information provider Enetpulse of breaching EU copyright rules by using the fixture lists without payment.
The lists are drawn up by Football Dataco, the Football Association, the Premier League, the Football League and their Scottish counterparts.
The case was referred to the European court by a UK court which must now "assess, in the light of the considerations set out by the (Luxembourg) court, whether the football fixture lists concerned are databases which satisfy the conditions of eligibility for copyright protection".
The judges warned: "However, the court adds that unless the procedures for creating the lists concerned as described by the national court are supplemented by elements reflecting originality in the selection or arrangement of the data contained in those lists, they do not suffice for those lists to be protected by the copyright laid down in the directive."
Source: FOOTYMAD
