CELEX: 62002CJ0444
Language: en
Date: 2004-11-09
Title: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 9 November 2004.#Fixtures Marketing Ltd v Organismos prognostikon agonon podosfairou AE (OPAP).#Reference for a preliminary ruling: Monomeles Protodikeio Athinon - Greece.#Directive 96/9/EC - Legal protection of databases - Definition of database - Scope of the sui generis right - Football fixture lists - Betting.#Case C-444/02.

Case C-444/02
      Fixtures Marketing Ltd
      v
      Organismos prognostikon agonon podosfairou AE (OPAP)
      (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Monomeles protodikio Athinon)
      (Directive 96/9/EC – Legal protection of databases – Definition of database – Scope of the sui generis right – Football fixture lists – Betting)
      Summary of the Judgment
      1.        Approximation of laws – Legal protection of databases – Directive 96/9 – Definition of database – Football fixtures list –
            Included 
      (European Parliament and Council Directive 96/9, Art. 1(2))
      2.        Approximation of laws – Legal protection of databases – Directive 96/9 – Definition of investment in the obtaining, verification
            or presentation of the contents of a database – Resources used to draw up a football fixtures list – Not included 
      (European Parliament and Council Directive 96/9, Art. 7(1))
      1.        The term ‘database’ as defined in Article 1(2) of Directive 96/9 on the legal protection of databases refers to any collection
         of works, data or other materials, separable from one another without the value of their contents being affected, including
         a method or system of some sort for the retrieval of each of its constituent materials. 
      
      A football fixtures list constitutes a database within the meaning of Article 1(2) of the directive. First, the data contained
         in it concerning the date, the time and the identity of the teams in a particular football match have, when taken together,
         an independent informative value in that they provide interested third parties with relevant information about the match concerned.
         Second, the arrangement of those data in the form of a fixture list meets the conditions as to systematic or methodical arrangement
         and individual accessibility of the constituent materials of that collection required by Article 1(2) of the directive.
      
      (see paras 32-36, 53, operative part)
      2.        The expression ‘investment in … the obtaining … of the contents’ of a database in Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9 on the legal
         protection of databases must be understood to refer to investment in the creation of that database. It therefore refers to
         the resources used to seek out existing materials and collect them in that database but 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, the resources used to
         establish the dates, times and the team pairings for the various matches in the league do not constitute such investment.
         Moreover, finding the data which make up a football fixture list does not require any particular effort on the part of the
         professional leagues, which participate directly in the creation of the data. The resources used for the verification or presentation
         of the data making up the list cannot therefore be considered to represent a substantial investment independent of the investment
         in the creation of those data.
      
      (see paras 39-40, 47, 49-51, 53, operative part)

      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
            
            JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Grand Chamber)9 November 2004(1)
         
         
            
         
               (Directive 96/9/EC  –  Legal protection of databases  –  Definition of database  –  Scope of the sui generis right  –  Football fixture lists  –  Betting)
               
             In Case C-444/02,REFERENCE for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC, from the Monomeles Protodikio Athinon (Greece), made by decision
            of 11 July 2002, received at the Court on 9 December 2002, in the proceedings
            
            
            Fixtures Marketing Ltd
            
            v
            
            Organismos prognostikon agonon podosfairou AE (OPAP),
            
            
            
            THE COURT (Grand Chamber),,
            
             composed of: V. Skouris, President, P. Jann, C.W.A. Timmermans, A. Rosas and K. Lenaerts (Rapporteur), Presidents of Chambers,
            J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen, N. Colneric and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Judges,
            
             Advocate General:  C. Stix-Hackl,Registrars: M. Múgica Arzamendi and M.-F. Contet, Principal Administrators,
             having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 30 March 2004,after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:
            
            –
             Fixtures Marketing Ltd, by K. Giannakopoulos, dikigoros,
            
            –
             Organismos prognostikon agonon podosfairou AE, by F. Christodoulou, K. Christodoulou, A. Douzas, L. Maravelis and C. Pampoukis,
            dikigoroi,
            
            –
             the Greek Government, by E. Mamouna and I. Bakopoulos and V. Kyriazopoulos, acting as agents,
            
            –
             the Belgian Government, by A. Snoecx, acting as agent, and P. Vlaemminck, advocaat,
            
            –
             the Austrian Government, by E. Riedl, acting as agent,
            
            –
             the Portuguese Government, by L. Fernandes and A.P. Matos Barros, acting as agents,
            
            –
             the Finnish Government, by T. Pynnä, acting as agent,
            
            –
             the Commission of the European Communities, by K. Banks and M. Patakia, acting as Agents,
            
            
            
            after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 8 June 2004,
         gives the following
         
         
         Judgment
         1
            
          This reference for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of the provisions of Directive 96/9/EC of the European
         Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases (OJ 1996 L 77, p. 20, ‘the directive’).
           
         
         
         
         2
            
          The reference was made in the course of proceedings brought by Fixtures Marketing Limited (‘Fixtures’) against Organismos
         Prognostikon Agonon Pododfairou AE (‘OPAP’). The litigation arose over the use by OPAP, for the purpose of organising betting
         games, of information taken from the fixture lists for the English and Scottish football leagues.
         
         
            
               Legal background 
            
         
         3
            
          The directive, according to Article 1(1) thereof, concerns the legal protection of databases in any form. A database is defined,
         in Article 1(2) of the directive, as ‘a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic
         or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means’.
         
         
         
         4
            
          Article 3 of the directive provides for copyright protection for databases which, ‘by reason of the selection or arrangement
         of their contents, constitute the author’s own intellectual creation’. 
         
         
         
         5
            
          Article 7 of the directive provides for a sui generis right in the following terms: 
         ‘Object of protection 
          1.       Member States shall provide for a right for the maker of a database which shows that there has been qualitatively and/or quantitatively
         a substantial investment in either the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents to prevent extraction and/or
         re-utilisation of the whole or of a substantial part, evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that
         database. 
          2.       For the purposes of this Chapter: 
         
         (a)
            “extraction” shall mean the permanent or temporary transfer of all or a substantial part of the contents of a database to
               another medium by any means or in any form;  
            
         
         
         (b)
            “re-utilisation” shall mean any form of making available to the public all or a substantial part of the contents of a database
               by the distribution of copies, by renting, by on-line or other forms of transmission. The first sale of a copy of a database
               within the Community by the rightholder or with his consent shall exhaust the right to control resale of that copy within
               the Community.
            
         
          Public lending is not an act of extraction or re-utilisation. 
          3.       The right referred to in paragraph 1 may be transferred, assigned or granted under contractual licence.
          4.       The right provided for in paragraph 1 shall apply irrespective of the eligibility of that database for protection by copyright
         or by other rights. Moreover, it shall apply irrespective of eligibility of the contents of that database for protection by
         copyright or by other rights. Protection of databases under the right provided for in paragraph 1 shall be without prejudice
         to rights existing in respect of their content. 
          5.       The repeated and systematic extraction and/or re-utilisation of insubstantial parts of the contents of the database implying
         acts which conflict with a normal exploitation of that database or which unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of
         the maker of the database shall not be permitted.’ 
         
         
         
         6
            
          The directive was implemented in Greek law by Law No 2819/2000 (FEK A’ 84/15-3-2000). 
         
         The main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling
         
         7
            
          According to the order for reference, the organisers of English and Scottish league football retained a company, Football
         Fixtures Limited, to handle the exploitation of the fixture lists outside the United Kingdom through licensing. Fixtures was
         assigned the right to represent the holders of the intellectual property rights in those fixture lists. 
         
         
         
         8
            
          In Greece, OPAP has a monopoly on the organisation of gambling. In its activities it uses information from the fixture lists
         for the English and Scotttish football leagues.
         
         
         
         9
            
          Fixtures brought an action against OPAP before the Monomeles Protodikio Athinon on the ground that OPAP’s practices were precluded
         by the sui generis right it held under Article 7 of the directive.
         
         
         
         10
            
          In the light of the problems of interpretation of the directive, the Monomeles Protodikio Athinon decided to stay proceedings
         and refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling:
         
         ‘1.
            What is the definition of database and what is the scope of Directive 96/9/EC and in particular Article 7 thereof which concerns
               the sui generis right?
            
         
         
         2.
            In the light of the definition of the scope of the directive, do lists of football fixtures enjoy protection as databases
               over which there is a sui generis right in favour of the maker and under what conditions?
            
         
         
         3.
            How exactly is the database right infringed and is it protected in the event of rearrangement of the contents of the database?’
         
         
         The questions referredAdmissibility
         
         11
            
          The Finnish Government disputes the admissibility of the request for a preliminary ruling. It maintains that the order for
         reference is marred by insufficient detail of the legal and factual background to the main proceedings, which is liable to
         prevent the Court from giving a proper answer to the questions asked and the Member States from submitting relevant observations
         on those questions.
         
         
         
         12
            
          It must be recalled that according to settled case-law, the need to provide an interpretation of Community law which will
         be of use to the national court makes it necessary that the national court define the factual and legal context of the questions
         it is asking or, at the very least, explain the factual circumstances on which those questions are based (Case C-67/96 Albany [1999] ECR I-5751, paragraph 39). 
         
         
         
         13
            
          The information provided in orders for reference must not only be such as to enable the Court to reply usefully but must also
         enable the governments of the Member States and other interested parties to submit observations pursuant to Article 23 of
         the Statute of the Court of Justice. It is the Court’s duty to ensure that that possibility is safeguarded, bearing in mind
         that, by virtue of the abovementioned provision, only the orders for reference are notified to the interested parties (Albany, cited above, paragraph 40). 
         
         
         
         14
            
          In the present case, it appears from the observations submitted by the parties to the main proceedings and by the governments
         of the Member States pursuant to Article 23 of the Statute of the Court of Justice, that the information given in the order
         for reference enabled them to understand that the dispute arose over the use by OPAP, for the purpose of organising sporting
         bets, of information from the fixture lists prepared by the professional football leagues and that, against that background,
         the referring court has raised questions about the term database as defined in Article 1(2) of the directive and of the scope
         and extent of the sui generis right provided for by Article 7 of the directive.
         
         
         
         15
            
          Moreover, the order for reference gives details of the relationship between the football leagues concerned, Football Fixtures
         Limited and Fixtures, which shed light on the basis on which the latter claims the protection of the sui generis right in the litigation in the main proceedings.
         
         
         
         16
            
          Furthermore, the information provided by the national court gives the Court of Justice sufficient knowledge of the factual
         and legislative context of the main proceedings to enable it to interpret the Community rules which are relevant to the situation
         which forms the subject-matter of the dispute. 
         
         
         
         17
            
          It follows that the request for a preliminary ruling is admissible.
         
         The merits The term database as defined in Article 1(2) of the directive
         
         
         18
            
          The referring court asks, first, in its first two questions, what the term database as defined in Article 1(2) of the directive
         covers and whether football fixture lists fall within that definition.
         
         
         
         19
            
          A database in the terms of the directive is defined in Article 1(2) as ‘a collection of independent works, data or other materials
         arranged in a systematic or methodical way and individually accessible by electronic or other means’.
         
         
         
         20
            
          As both Fixtures and the Commission submit, there are several indications of the intention of the Community legislature to
         give the term database as defined in the directive, a wide scope, unencumbered by considerations of a formal, technical or
         material nature.
         
         
         
         21
            
          For instance, according to Article 1(1) of the directive, it concerns the legal protection of databases ‘in any form’.
         
         
         
         22
            
          Although the proposal for a Council Directive on the legal protection of databases  (OJ 1992 C 156, p. 4), presented by the
         Commission on 15 April 1992 concerned exclusively electronic databases according to the definition of database contained in
         Article 1(1) of that proposal for a Directive, it was agreed in the course of the legislative process, that ‘protection under
         this Directive should be extended to cover non-electronic databases’, according to the 14th recital of the preamble to the
         directive.
         
         
         
         23
            
          According to the 17th recital of the preamble to the directive, ‘the term “database” should be understood to include literary,
         artistic, musical or other collections of works or collections of other material such as texts, sound, images, numbers, facts,
         and data’. The fact that the data or information at issue relate to a sporting activity thus does not preclude the database
         from being recognised as such in the terms of the directive.
         
         
         
         24
            
          Whereas, in its opinion of 23 June 1993 on the Commission proposal for a Council directive on the legal protection of databases
         (OJ 1993 C 194, p. 144), the European Parliament had suggested defining a database as a collection of a ‘large number’ of
         data, works or other materials, that condition no longer appears in the definition in Article 1(2) of the directive. 
         
         
         
         25
            
          For the purposes of determining whether there is a database within the meaning of the directive, it is irrelevant whether
         the collection is made up of materials from a source or sources other than the person who constitutes that collection, materials
         created by that person himself or materials falling within both those categories.
         
         
         
         26
            
          Contrary to the contentions of the Greek and Portuguese Governments, nothing in the directive points to the conclusion that
         a database must be its maker’s own intellectual creation to be classified as such. As the Commission points out, the criterion
         of originality is only relevant to the assessment whether a database qualifies for the copyright protection provided for by
         Chapter II of the directive, as is clear from Article 3(1) and from the 15th and 16th recitals of the preamble to the directive.
         
         
         
         27
            
          Against the background of a wide interpretation various aspects of the directive demonstrate that the term database within
         the meaning thereof is more specifically defined in terms of its function. 
         
         
         
         28
            
          A reading of the recitals of the preamble to the directive reveals that, given the ‘exponential growth, in the Community and
         worldwide, in the amount of information generated and processed annually in all sectors of commerce and industry’ as the 10th
         recital states, the legal protection provided by the directive is intended to encourage the development of systems performing
         a function of ‘storage’ and ‘processing’ of information, according to the 10th and 12th recitals.
         
         
         
         29
            
          Thus, classification as a database is dependent, first of all, on the existence of a collection of ‘independent’ materials,
         that is to say, materials which are separable from one another without their informative, literary, artistic, musical or other
         value being affected. On that basis, a recording of an audiovisual, cinematographic, literary or musical work as such does
         not fall within the scope of the directive, according to the 17th recital of the preamble to the directive.
         
         
         
         30
            
          Classification of a collection as a database then requires that the independent materials making up that collection be systematically
         or methodically arranged and individually accessible in one way or another. While it is not necessary for the systematic or
         methodical arrangement to be physically apparent, according to the 21st recital, that condition implies that the collection
         should be contained in a fixed base, of some sort, and include technical means such as electronic, electromagnetic or electro-optical
         processes, in the terms of the 13th recital of the preamble to the directive, or other means, such as an index, a table of
         contents, or a particular plan or method of classification, to allow the retrieval of any independent material contained within
         it.
         
         
         
         31
            
          That second condition makes it possible to distinguish a database within the meaning of the directive, characterised by a
         means of retrieving each of its constituent materials, from a collection of materials providing information without any means
         of processing the individual materials which make it up.
         
         
         
         32
            
          It follows from the above analysis that the term database as defined in Article 1(2) of the directive refers to any collection
         of works, data or other materials, separable from one another without the value of their contents being affected, including
         a method or system of some sort for the retrieval of each of its constituent materials.
         
         
         
         33
            
          In the case in the main proceedings, the date and the time of and the identity of the two teams playing in both home and away
         matches are covered by the concept of independent materials within the meaning of Article 1(2) of the directive in that they
         have autonomous informative value.
         
         
         
         34
            
          Although it is true that the interest of a football league lies in the overall result of the various matches in that league,
         the fact remains that the data concerning the date, the time and the identity of the teams in a particular match have an independent
         value in that they provide interested third parties with relevant information.
         
         
         
         35
            
          The compilation of dates, times and names of teams relating to the various fixtures in a football league is, accordingly,
         a collection of independent materials. The arrangement, in the form of a fixture list, of the dates, times and names of teams
         in those various football matches meets the conditions as to systematic or methodical arrangement and individual accessibility
         of the constituent materials of that collection. The fact, raised by the Greek and Austrian Governments, that lots are drawn
         to decide the pairing of the teams is not such as to call into question the above analysis.
         
         
         
         36
            
          It follows that a fixture list for a football league such as that at issue in the case in the main proceedings constitutes
         a database within the meaning of Article 1(2) of the directive.
         
         The scope of the sui generis right
         
         37
            
          The referring court goes on, in its first two questions, to seek the Court’s view of the scope of the protection afforded
         by the sui generis right in circumstances such as those of the case in the main proceedings.
         
         
         
         38
            
          Article 7(1) of the directive reserves the protection of the sui generis right to databases which meet a specific criterion, namely to those which show that there has been qualitatively and/or quantitatively
         a substantial investment in the obtaining, verification or presentation of their contents.
         
         
         
         39
            
          Under the 9th, 10th and 12th recitals of the preamble to the directive, its purpose, as OPAP and the Greek Government point
         out, is to promote and protect investment in data ‘storage’ and ‘processing’ systems which contribute to the development of
         an information market against a background of exponential growth in the amount of information generated and processed annually
         in all sectors of activity. It follows that the expression ‘investment in … the obtaining, verification or presentation of
         the contents’ of a database must be understood, generally, to refer to investment in the creation of that database as such.
         
         
         
         
         40
            
          Against that background, the expression ‘investment in … the obtaining … of the contents’ of a database must, as OPAP and
         the Belgian, Austrian and Portuguese Governments point out, be understood to refer to the resources used to seek out existing
         independent materials and collect them in the database, and not to the resources used for the creation as such of independent
         materials. The purpose of the protection by the sui generis  right provided for by the directive is to promote the establishment of  storage and processing systems for existing information
         and not the creation of materials capable of being collected subsequently in a database.
         
         
         
         41
            
          That interpretation is backed up by the 39th recital of the preamble to the directive, according to which the aim of the sui generis right is to safeguard the results of the financial and professional investment made in ‘obtaining and collection of the contents’
         of a database. As the Advocate General points out in points 67 to 72 of her Opinion, despite slight variations in wording,
         all the language versions of the 39th recital support an interpretation which excludes the creation of the materials contained
         in a database from the definition of obtaining.
         
         
         
         42
            
          The 19th recital of the preamble to the directive, according to which the compilation of several recordings of musical performances
         on a CD does not represent a substantial enough investment to be eligible under the sui generis right, provides an additional argument in support of that interpretation. Indeed, it appears from that recital that the resources
         used for the creation as such of works or materials included in the database, in this case on a CD, cannot be deemed equivalent
         to investment in the obtaining of the contents of that database and cannot, therefore, be taken into account in assessing
         whether the investment in the creation of the database was substantial.
         
         
         
         43
            
          The expression ‘investment in … the … verification … of the contents’ of a database must be understood to refer to the resources
         used, with a view to ensuring the reliability of the information contained in that database, to monitor the accuracy of the
         materials collected when the database was created and during its operation. The expression ‘investment in … the … presentation
         of the contents’ of the database concerns, for its part, the resources used for the purpose of giving the database its function
         of processing information, that is to say those used for the systematic or methodical arrangement of the materials contained
         in that database and the organisation of their individual accessibility.
         
         
         
         44
            
          Investment in the creation of a database may consist in the deployment of human, financial or technical resources but it must
         be substantial in quantitative or qualitative terms. The quantitative assessment refers to quantifiable resources and the
         qualitative assessment to efforts which cannot be quantified, such as intellectual effort or energy, according to the 7th,
         39th and 40th recitals of the preamble to the directive.
         
         
         
         45
            
          In that light, the fact that the creation of a database is linked to the exercise of a principal activity in which the person
         creating the database is also the creator of the materials contained in the database does not, as such, preclude that person
         from claiming the protection of the sui generis right, provided that he establishes that the obtaining of those materials, their verification or their presentation, in the
         sense described in paragraphs 40 to 43 of this judgment, required substantial investment in quantitative or qualitative terms,
         which was independent of the resources used to create those materials.
         
         
         
         46
            
          In those circumstances, although the search for data and the verification of their accuracy at the time a database is created
         do not require the maker of that database to use particular resources because the data are those he created and are available
         to him, the fact remains that the collection of those data, their systematic or methodical arrangement in the database, the
         organisation of their individual accessibility and the verification of their accuracy throughout the operation of the database
         may require substantial investment in quantitative and/or qualitative terms within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the directive.
         
         
         
         47
            
          In the case in the main proceedings, the resources deployed for the purpose of determining, in the course of arranging the
         football league fixtures, the dates and times of and home and away teams playing in the various matches represent, as OPAP
         and the Belgian, Austrian and Portuguese Governments submit, an investment in the creation of the fixture list. Such an investment,
         which relates to the organisation as such of the leagues is linked to the creation of the data contained in the database at
         issue, in other words those relating to each match in the various leagues. It cannot, therefore, be taken into account under
         Article 7(1) of the directive.
         
         
         
         48
            
          Accordingly, it must be ascertained, leaving aside the investment referred to in the previous paragraph, whether the obtaining,
         verification or presentation of the contents of a list of football fixtures constitutes a substantial investment in qualitative
         or quantitative terms.
         
         
         
         49
            
          Finding and collecting the data which make up a football fixture list do not require any particular effort on the part of
         the professional leagues. Those activities are indivisibly linked to the creation of those data, in which the leagues participate
         directly as those responsible for the organisation of football league fixtures. Obtaining the contents of a football fixture
         list thus does not require any investment independent of that required for the creation of the data contained in that list.
         
         
         
         50
            
          The professional football leagues do not need to put any particular effort into monitoring the accuracy of the data on league
         matches when the list is made up because those leagues are directly involved in the creation of those data. The verification
         of the accuracy of the contents of fixture lists during the season simply involves, according to the observations made by
         Fixtures, adapting certain data in those lists to take account of any postponement of a match or fixture date decided on by
         or in collaboration with the leagues. Such verification cannot be regarded as requiring substantial investment.
         
         
         
         51
            
          The presentation of a football fixture list, too, is closely linked to the creation as such of the data which make up the
         list. It cannot therefore be considered to require investment independent of the investment in the creation of its constituent
         data.
         
         
         
         52
            
          It follows that neither the obtaining, nor the verification nor yet the presentation of the contents of a football fixture
         list attests to substantial investment which could justify protection by the sui generis right provided for by Article 7 of the directive.
         
         
         
         53
            
          In the light of the foregoing, the first two questions referred should be answered as follows:
         
         
         
          
         –
            The term database as defined in Article 1(2) of the directive refers to any collection of works, data or other materials,
               separable from one another without the value of their contents being affected, including a method or system of some sort for
               the retrieval of each of its constituent materials.
            
         
         
         
         
          
         –
            A fixture list for a football league such as that at issue in the case in the main proceedings constitutes a database within
               the meaning of Article 1(2) of the directive.
            
         
         
         
         
          
         –
            The expression ‘investment in … the obtaining … of the contents’ of a database as defined in Article 7(1) of the directive
               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.
            
         
         
         
         
         
         54
            
          In the light of the foregoing, there is no need to reply to the third question referred.
         
         
         Costs
         55
            
          Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the national court,
         the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs
         of those parties, are not recoverable.
         
         
         
         
         
         
            
            
         
         
          On those grounds, the Court (Grand Chamber) rules as follows:
         The term ‘database’ as defined in Article 1(2) of Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal
               protection of databases refers to any collection of works, data or other materials, separable from one another without the
               value of their contents being affected, including a method or system of  some sort for the retrieval of each of its constituent
               materials. A fixture list for a football league such as that at issue in the case in the main proceedings constitutes a database within
               the meaning of Article 1(2) of Directive 96/9.The expression ‘investment in … the obtaining … of the contents’ of a database in Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9 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. Signatures.
      
      
          1 –
            
            Language of the case: Greek.