Genius settles football data conflict with Sportradar
Genius Sports Inc has notified that it has settled its long-running dispute on the data collection and distribution rights of English and Scottish football with Sportradar AG.
The fierce sportstech rivals had entered a UK High Court battle in February 2021, with Genius alleging that Sportradar had infringed upon the data collection rights of its exclusive contract with the Football DataCo (FDC).
In 2019, Genius was appointed by FDC to serve as the ‘official live data supplier’ for sports betting for the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).
Under the terms of the agreement, Genius’ subsidiary Betgenius won the rights to collect live match data from over 4,000 FDC-syndicated football matches and distribute the data both domestically and internationally.
However, upon the award of the contract, Sportradar served legal proceedings against Betgenius and FDC, challenging the ‘legal structure’ of the deal agreed to by both parties.
Sportradar argued that Betgenius and FDC had knowingly breached UK and EU Competition Law as it allowed no suitable alternative for data collection to be processed, thereby blocking off competition and closing the market to other data suppliers.
At the time, Sportradar stated that Genius and FDC should find a fair resolution that enabled third parties to collect data from the three leagues.
Meanwhile Genius issued a counter-claim against Sportradar for infringing upon the data collection rights of its deal, stating that it had used in-stadia scouts to collect data during matches – in which it had been afforded a zero tolerance policy by the FDC.
Following hearings by the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), in December 2020 the legal challenge was transferred to the UK High Court, as judges deemed that the disputes and determinations were closely intertwined and should therefore be arbitrated under a single case.
This afternoon, Genius communicated that: “The litigation has been resolved.”
“The resolution enables FDC to continue to license and market FDC data in future as it determines. Genius Sports shall maintain the exclusive right to provide low latency Official FDC betting data rights through 2024”
Though yet to be confirmed by Sportradar, Genius stated that its rival had agreed to purchase a sub-license for “a delayed feed to be marketed as the Official FDC Secondary Feed, through 2024”.
Genius concluded that Sportradar had further committed to refrain from unofficial in-stadia scouting of Premier League, Football League, and Scottish Professional Football League matches.
Both parties will maintain the remaining terms of the settlement as confidential.
Source: SBC News
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