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UK High Court Rules Fixtures Are Copyrighted

Expect to see fewer schedules of English Premier League games in favorite newspaper or online site in the coming days as a British High Court has ruled that the fixtures are copyrighted by the English Premier League.  The EPL and four other bodies  brought the case against companies including Yahoo over their unlicensed use of fixtures (schedules to Americans). 

The ruling is contrary to one from the European Court of Justice, which in 2004 ruled against protection of fixture lists, but the High Court found that compiling the fixtures required sufficient work to warrant protection.  To compile the fixtures, the scheduler has to take into account television, of course; making sure that no teams played at home in the city on the same day and making sure that dates were left open for European competition, while still ensuring that the clubs competing in Europe and the domestic cup competitions.

I'm not too sure an American court would agree.  Given the 2007  from the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals in the case involving Major League Baseball and the operator of fantasy sports games, in which the Court uphheld a District Court decision that the operator's First Amendment right to free speech trumps the players and MLB's right to publicity and MLB cannot control the use of game results or a player's name and statistics.  Major League Baseball's  petition for certiorari was denied on June 2, 2008, so the Eighth Circuit decision stands today as the law of land at least in Missouri and several neighboring states.  The various players in fantasy sports are now treating the case as the basis for their bargaining, which is another reason why I don't think you would see the same result her.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).