Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 9 November 2004 in Case C-46/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Vantaan käräjäoikeus): Fixtures Marketing Ltd v Oy Veikkaus Ab (Directive 96/9/EC — Legal protection of databases — Sui generis right — Definition of investment in the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents of a database — Football fixture lists — Betting)
Date: 2005-01-08
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: data protection, database, intellectual property, interpretation of the law, sporting event

C 6/2

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

8.1.2005

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Grand Chamber)

of 9 November 2004

in Case C-46/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
the Vantaan käräjäoikeus): Fixtures Marketing Ltd v
Oy Veikkaus Ab (1)

(Second Chamber)

of 11 November 2004

in Joined Cases C-183/02 P and C-187/02 P: Daewoo Elec-
tronics Manufacturing España SA (Demesa) (C-183/02) and
Territorio Histórico de Álava – Diputación Foral de Álava
(C-187/02) v Commission of the European Communities (1)

(Appeal — State aid — Tax measures — Legitimate expecta-
tions — New pleas in law)

(Directive 96/9/EC — Legal protection of databases — Sui
generis right — Definition of investment in the obtaining,
verification or presentation of the contents of a database —
Football fixture lists — Betting)

(2005/C 6/03)

(Language of the case: Spanish)

(2005/C 6/02)

(Language of the case: Finnish)

(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in
the European Court Reports)

(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in
the European Court Reports)

received at

In Case C-46/02: reference for a preliminary ruling under
Article 234 EC from the Vantaan käräjäoikeus (Finland), by
the Court on
decision of 1 February 2002,
in the proceedings between Fixtures
18 February 2002,
(Grand
Marketing Ltd and Oy Veikkaus Ab — the Court
Chamber),
Jann,
C.W.A. Timmermans, A. Rosas and K. Lenaerts (Rapporteur),
Schintgen,
J.-P.
Presidents of Chambers,
N. Colneric and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges; C. Stix-Hackl,
Advocate General; M. Múgica Arzamendi and M.-F. Contet,
Principal Administrators, for the Registrar, has given a judg-
ment on 9 November 2004, in which it has ruled:

composed of: V. Skouris, President, P.

Puissochet, R.

The expression ‘investment in … the obtaining … of the contents’ of
a database in Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal
protection of databases must be understood to refer to the resources
used to seek out existing independent materials and collect them in
the database. It does not cover the resources used for the creation of
materials which make up the contents of a database. In the context of
drawing up a fixture list for the purpose of organising football league
fixtures, therefore, it does not cover the resources used to establish the
dates, times and the team pairings for the various matches in the
league.

(1) OJ C 109 of 4.5.2002.

(C-187/02 P),

In Joined Cases C-183/02 P and C-187/02 P: two appeals
under Article 49 of the EC Statute of the Court of Justice
lodged on 15 and 16 May 2002, Daewoo Electronics Manufac-
turing España SA (Demesa), established in Vitoria (Spain),
(Lawyers: A. Creus Carreras and B. Uriarte Valiente) (C-183/02
P) Territorio Histórico de Álava – Diputación Foral de Álava
(Lawyers: A. Creus Carreras, B. Uriarte Valiente and M. Bravo-
Ferrer Delgado)
supported by Comunidad
Autónoma del País Vasco (Lawyer: E. Garayar Gutiérrez), the
other parties to the proceedings being: Commission of the
European Communities (Agents: F. Santaolalla Gadea and J.L.
Buendía Sierra), Asociación Nacional de Fabricantes de Electro-
domésticos de Línea Blanca (ANFEL), established in Madrid
(Spain), and Conseil européen de la construction d'appareils
domestiques (CECED), established in Brussels (Belgium) – the
Court (Second Chamber), composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans,
President of
the Chamber, C. Gulmann (Rapporteur) and
N. Colneric, Judges; J. Kokott, Advocate General; M. Múgica
the Registrar, has
Arzamendi, Principal Administrator,
given a judgment on 11 November 2004, in which:

for

1. Joins Cases C-183/02 P and C-187/02 P for the purposes of the

judgment;

2. Dismisses the appeals;

3. Orders the appellants, in addition to bearing their own costs, to
pay those incurred by the Commission of the European Commu-
nities;

4. Orders the Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco to bear its own

costs.

(1) OJ C 180 of 27.7.2002.