Judgement reserved in TRP v SIS conspiracy trial at High Court

Judgement has been reserved in the High Court trial in which Arena Racing Company's betting shop service The Racing Partnership claims rival SIS conspired with Ladbrokes Coral, Betfred and the Tote to drive down the value of their media rights.

Judge Antony Zacaroli heard discussion of the two sides' closing written submissions on Friday in the trial which began on January 16.

The case goes back to the launch of TRP's racing pictures and data service to betting shops in January 2017, when bookmakers Betfred, Coral and Ladbrokes held out on agreeing a contract with the company.

TRP said SIS infringed its rights in live on-course data and betting shows which SIS provided to the bookmakers involved. The bookmakers involved signed up to TRP's media rights package in July 2017, by which time, TRP have said, the damage had been done.

During the trial the court heard TRP suspected SIS traders were using prices from TRP tracks to shape the odds transmitted to shops.

It was also alleged that SIS used Betfair to generate prices until March 2017, when it was informed it was in breach of Betfair's terms and conditions, and after that Betdaq prices.

TRP also alleged that SIS had individuals working at the Tote's headquarters in Wigan, to whom information such as the off times of races was provided by a Tote representative working on the relevant Arc courses, breaching the terms and conditions for entry to those tracks.

The combination of shows and raceday data supplied to the bookmakers, TRP claimed, meant Ladbrokes Coral and Betfred were in a position to put off signing up to TRP's service in an "unlawful means conspiracy".

It is understood the proceedings against the bookmakers were settled when they agreed their deals with TRP.

SIS said they had not breached any of TRP's copyrights or database rights and that there had been no conspiracy.

After the judge reserved judgement, a statement from SIS said: "SIS has mounted a robust legal defence. We reject TRP's claims as spurious and we believe that we have made it clear to the court that there was no infringement of copyright, nor any conspiracy.

"We regard TRP as a professional competitor with whom we have always been happy to engage in a spirit of normal, friendly competition. We look forward to the judge concluding the matter."

A spokesman for Arc said: "It would be inappropriate and premature for us to comment before the judge delivers his judgement."

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