High Court dismisses Entain copyright claims

The High Court has dismissed the copyright claims of Entain against Outplayed.com and Oddsmonkey, after allowing the operator to modify them. Meanwhile, Entain’s brand claims remain intact. Justice Cawson has determined that Entain cannot influence the copyright claims against Outplayed.com and Oddsmonkey without first changing its pleadings urgently. Entain initiated the legal action in August last year stating breach of copyright and trademark by the companies managing the websites. Justice Cawson, High Court judge, wrote: Authorship-based qualification fails for want of authors I do not consider that it can be appropriate for claimants, as late in the day as the case management conference in a case and after the proceedings have been on foot for some 11 months or so, to say that they are in the process of obtaining the requisite assignments without explaining why this could not have been done before now… The defendants countered Entain’s copyright claim stating that the operator had failed to identify either the creators of the work or their respective publication dates or originality. They also mentioned that the majority of the material had been produced by outside companies. Entain now has a limited time frame to modify its copyright claims, wishing to continue with the case. The judge again dismissed most of Entain’s attempts to eliminate parts of the defence presented by the defendants. An Entain spokesperson commented: Entain does not comment on active litigation. However, as we have previously said, the matched betting business model is a parasitic one, and we take the protection of our brands and reputation extremely seriously. We have strong grounds for our claim and remain confident in it.