UK Soccer Fixtures Copyrighted

It appears that the fixture lists of UK Soccer matches are now considered copyright material after a court case. Judge Christopher Floyd said in summing up "The process of preparing fixture lists involves very significant labour and skill in satisfying the multitude of often competing requirements of those involved, (it is) not mere sweat of the brow, by which I mean the application of rigid criteria to the processing of data. The quality of the solution depends in part on the skill of those involved." So the judge has ruled that the information is intellectual property and that anyone who wants to publish it will have to pay for the privilege.

Now my interest in football is non-existent but this seems totally ludicrous. If I was running the newspapers I would simply say okay if you want us to publish your fixture list then you will pay us for advertising. I suspect that the newspapers will simply pay for the sake of their readership and the only victims of this stupid idea will be the fan sites who upon publishing when and where their team is playing will face either a bill or a fine.

The details of the case can be read here.
Thanks to J-Walk Blog who spotted this item at Law.Com Legal Blog Watch

This whole intellectual property thing is just getting out of hand. Picture the scene "Hey Bob! Where is the match next week?" "Sorry Jacko if I tell you that then the league will charge me a tenner."