Beechwood House Publishing (t/a Binleys) v Guardian Products [2011] EWPCC 22

Case Summary  |  Judgment  |  20 June 2011

Jonathan Hill acted for the successful claimant in the trial of a database right infringement claim brought by a supplier of healthcare data against a competitor which had obtained and used data taken from the claimant’s database. The case involved the first application by the English courts of the European Court of Justice’s guidance in the British Horseracing Board v William Hill Organisation case as to the principles applicable when assessing whether a substantial part of a database has been taken - the key question when it comes to establishing infringement. HHJ Birss QC provided useful guidance as to how to go about the assessment from both a quantitative and qualitative point of view and his findings provide a useful yardstick as to the amount of data which needs to be taken for infringement to result. [2011] EWPCC 22.