Intellectual property disputes
In the case of Playup Interactive Entertainment (UK) Pty Ltd v Givemefootball Ltd [2011] EWHC 1980 Givemefootball (G) was the host of the Professional Football Association (PFA) website. Playup (P) ran a gaming business over mobile phones. The parties entered into a contract under which G agreed with P to send targeted text messages to customers who used their site and who would obviously be interested in the sort of interactive gaming offered by P.
The dispute arose when P discovered that G had in fact not been using in its entirety its own data but had been using third party data.
P then complained that this did not comprise part of the agreement. The whole purpose of the agreement was to target users of the PFA website.
In November 2008 P gave notice of termination of the agreement. It paid the sum of £2000 to G, P then sort repayment and damages from G. G denied any breach and counterclaimed for the remaining installment of £342,000 plus vat.
The Court ruled, as a result of G’s failure to perform certain aspects of the contract for the various marketing benefits, P had lost vital benefit and accordingly entitled to terminate the contract for repudiatory breach.
The case does not provide any new law but it provides a useful interpretation of the phrases entered into and targeted.
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