Supporting Genius Sports in its high-profile litigation with Sportradar

We advised Genius Sports Group (one of the largest sports technology companies globally) in its high-profile dispute with its competitor, Sportradar, over the exclusive rights Genius was granted to collect and use live match data from Premier League, English Football League and Scottish Professional Football League matches.

Sportradar challenged the exclusive agreement between Genius and Football DataCo (the rights holder) on competition law grounds and alleged FDC had abused its dominant position by awarding the contract to Genius. At the same time, Sportradar also engaged in unauthorised collection and use of the data by sending its scouts to the matches. As a result, Genius and FDC brought claims against Sportradar and representative scouts  for breach of confidence, breach of contract, trespass and conspiracy to cause loss by unlawful means.  

The outcome of this dispute was not only critically important to Genius, but to the entire sports betting industry globally too, given the central focus on whether such highly valuable exclusive rights were enforceable. A ruling against Genius would have fundamentally reshaped the industry and deprived the sports industry as a whole, and individual clubs, of a valuable source of income.

The challenge

The case was legally and procedurally complex. Highly unusually, the three claims had to be jointly case managed across the High Court and Competition Appeal Tribunal and heard together. In addition, another sports data firm, Soft Construct (Malta), was permitted to intervene. This all created a series of novel procedural challenges.

Key challenges for the team included:

• resolving the intertwined issues of competition law, private law and IP rights;
• navigating conflicting Competition Appeal Tribunal and Civil Procedure Rules;
• managing extensive disclosure, witness evidence and expert evidence within tight timeframes; and
• resisting late tactical moves by Sportradar, including attempts to change its case two weeks before trial and summon Genius’ senior executives as witnesses.

Our approach

We worked closely with Genius and counsel over three years to build a robust defence and allied claim and place them in a strong position both for trial and any negotiations. Our approach included:

• procedural innovation, devising practical solutions to novel case management problems, most of which were adopted by the court;
• strategic advocacy, successfully opposing Sportradar’s attempt to compel evidence from Genius’ CEO and General Counsel, and overcoming a late attempt to amend its case in its skeleton argument; and
• seamless teamwork, as our cross-practice team combined litigation, competition and IP expertise, supported by senior lawyers and junior associates, and coordinated closely with counsel and Genius throughout.

Outcome

Following opening submissions at trial, the parties reached a settlement under which:

• Genius maintained its exclusive rights;
• Sportradar agreed to refrain from unofficial in-venue scouting at matches in the three UK football leagues; and
• Sportradar purchased a sublicence from Genius for a delayed feed of the official data.

The settlement preserved Genius’ core rights and paved the way for Genius to resolve connected litigation with other parties.