The Court of Appeal of Turin has issued a Judgment on the copyright protection of a football quiz app, confirming that not every creative idea is enough to score a win in court.

The Case 

The dispute stems from the development of a mobile app called "J-Game" ("App"). The developers approached the well-known football club Juventus F.C. S.p.A. ("Juventus") to propose a potential partnership, but no collaboration was established. 

Some time later, having discovered that Juventus had launched an online quiz contest named "JOFC" with features allegedly similar to those of the App, the developers brought proceedings in Turin against the football club, alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition. Juventus appeared in Court asking, among other things, to reject the opposing claims and ascertain the infringement of its trademark “J”, as well as compensation for damages.

The Court of Turin dismissed the developers’ claims and partially upheld Juventus’ counterclaims. In the Appeal proceedings, the Court confirmed the first instance judgment.

The Court’s Reasoning

The Court of Appeal held that the same principles and regulations applicable to TV formats apply – mutatis mutandis – to online formats as well. 

In particular, the Court noted that copyright protection requires a format to include specific features, including sequential and thematic articulations comprising a title, a basic narrative structure, a scenic apparatus and recurring characters, thereby creating a repeatable explanatory structure for the program.

Furthermore, formats need to be creative, i.e. to include original elements that decisively characterize the overall structure. Format may indeed consist of a combination of even known elements, provided that they are arranged in a new and distinctive way that confers sufficient novelty and originality to qualify the work as the product of an autonomous creative activity.

In the case at hand, the Court found that:

1. Many of the features in the App’s format were already well-established in other video games on the market.
2. The features invoked lacked the required specificity, as all of them seemed to refer to the theme of football predictions.

The Court therefore concluded that the App is not covered by copyright, as it is just a prediction game that merely builds on pre-existing contests by substituting the events to be predicted, the associated symbols, or the game card. Indeed, a quiz or predictions-based game format cannot be elevated to the status of a protectable work solely on the basis that it represents a minor variation on pre-existing games. 

The Comparison between the App and “JOFC”

In any case, the Court also noted the presence of several differences between Juventus’ quiz format “JOFC” and the App: 

1. The App was designed as a smartphone application open to an indistinct audience of users, based on a five-question quiz covering football trivia and predictions, with a single user ranking and monetisation through advertising banners and sponsorship.
2. "JOFC" was instead integrated within a dedicated platform, accessible exclusively via Juventus' official website and reserved for registered fan club members, with two separate rankings — one for individual fans and one for each fan club — and exclusive merchandise as prizes.

Conclusion

This judgment is quite consistent with a well-established line of case-law on the originality requirement of formats under Italian copyright law, a principle also confirmed by Italian Supreme Court. 

While absolute originality is not required for obtaining copyright protection, meeting the relevant threshold is far from straightforward. There are many elements to demonstrate before a format can claim the shield of copyright, and this decision is a timely reminder that solid evidence of both protectability and infringement must be gathered well before proceedings are initiated, including at the negotiation stage, when it is most often overlooked. Indeed, in copyright, as in football, the best time to prepare your defence is before kick-off!