Today marks the anniversary of the trial of the long-anticipated WaterRower v Liking case, yet the judgment still has not been handed down. 

To those readers not familiar with the case, it concerns whether copyright subsists in the WaterRower water resistance rowing machine. Copyright is claimed in two ways: first as a work of artistic craftsmanship, and second as an artistic work more generally. 

The case is being watched as it may turn on whether a series of EU copyright decisions that are at least arguably inconsistent with the UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 continue to apply post-Brexit.

The defendant had applied in 2022 to strike out the claim on the basis that the WaterRower machine could not qualify as a work of artistic craftsmanship, and that it therefore could not qualify for copyright protection more generally. The court refused that application, meaning that the case went to trial.

Which brings us back to the delayed judgment. Judgments in the IPEC are usually handed down within about 12 weeks of trial on a date set in the order for directions given after the case management conference. The Court of Appeal has twice in recent years said that the general rule is that judgments should be handed down within 3 months; the effect of not doing so is that “Justice delayed is justice denied” (Bank St Petersburg v Arkhangelsky [2020] EWCA Civ 408). The failure to do so makes judgments significantly more appealable on matters of fact.

I suspect something has happened, but there is nothing on the court file to indicate what that is. Meanwhile, businesses and practitioners in the UK continue to wait.