4 7 July 2005

News:

The anticipated decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court on the organisation of sports betting by private providers is now expected to take place in early 2006 at the earliest, according to a report by Attorneys at Law Dr. Wulf Hambach and Claus Hambach, Munich.

Real Madrid and some of its star players, Zidane, Beckham, Raul, Ronaldo and Figo failed to win an interlocutory injunction on 8 July from the President of Paris “Tribunal de Grande Instance” (French first level court) preventing online bookmakers from using the pictures and names of both the club and the players.

Attheraces (ATR) obtained a High Court interim injunction on 15 July preventing the BHB from: terminating the supply of pre-race data, forcing ATR into data agreements and paying significant fees for use of this data. ATR will continue to make payment for the outstanding amount on a per-fixture basis, back to June 2004, into an escrow account pending the full trial.

Features:

Following the Court of Appeal’s landmark decision on database rights, Mark Prinsley, partner at Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP provides an overview of the case and assesses its implications.

Online bookmakers have won the first round in their battle with Real Madrid over the use of information rights. Paul Van den Bulck and Thibault Verbiest of ULYS law firm analyse the case.

The decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court on the organisation of the sports betting market has been delayed. Dr Wulf Hambach, partner at Hambach & Hambach and attorney at the Munich Bar, explains why the wait should be worthwhile for private providers.

The Court of Appeal decision in the British Horseracing Board v William Hill has reduced the protection afforded to databases. Rachel Boothroyd and Lucy Otterwell of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP analyse the alternative forms of protection.

In this highly anticipated opinion, the Advocate General concludes that the UK group relief rules are incompatible with the freedom of establishment principles of the EC Treaty. Morgan James of Travers Smith analyses the case

The US Supreme Court has confirmed that distributors of peer-to-peer software can be liable for copyright infringement. Washington D.C. based intellectual property lawyer,Jonathan Band and Cardozo Law School student Eric Stieglitz explain the judgement