A claim for copyright over football fixture lists has been rejected by European judges.
A ruling in Luxembourg said that although compiling such lists required "significant" work and skill, it lacked the creativity required for copyright protection.
"A football fixture list cannot be protected by copyright when its compilation is dictated by rules or constraints which leave no room for creative freedom," said the judges.
UK company Football Dataco, responsible for protecting the rights acquired in English and Scottish football league fixtures, accused internet site Yahoo, bookmaker Stan James and sports information provider Enetpulse of breaching EU copyright rules by using the fixture lists without payment.
The lists are drawn up by Football Dataco, the Football Association, the Premier League, the Football League and their Scottish counterparts.
The EU's Data Directive gives copyright protection to databases "if the selection or arrangement of their contents constitute the author's own intellectual creation", the judges said.
The fixture lists are prepared in accordance with several "golden rules", and the preparation process, although partly automated, requires "very significant labour and skill in order to satisfy the multitude of requirements of the parties concerned whilst respecting the rules".
But the ruling said: "The fact that the compilation of the list required significant labour and skill on the part of its creator does not justify, in itself, it being protected by copyright."
The European Court of Justice said the only criterion for database copyright protection was the idea of "intellectual creation" or originality.
"That criterion of originality is satisfied when, through the selection or arrangement of the data which it contains, its author expresses his creative ability in an original manner by making free and creative choices."
But it is not satisfied if the setting up of the database is "dictated by technical considerations, rules or constraints which leave no room for creative freedom".
"The fact that the setting up of the database required, irrespective of the creation of the data which it contains, significant labour and skill on the part of its author does not justify, as such, the protection of it by copyright if that labour and that skill do not express any originality in the selection or arrangement of that data."
The case was referred to the European court by a UK court which must now "assess, in the light of the considerations set out by the (Luxembourg) court, whether the football fixture lists concerned are databases which satisfy the conditions of eligibility for copyright protection".
The judges warned: "However, the court adds that unless the procedures for creating the lists concerned as described by the national court are supplemented by elements reflecting originality in the selection or arrangement of the data contained in those lists, they do not suffice for those lists to be protected by the copyright laid down in the directive."