Worst possible outcome

[Steve3180]

Jon_ni, slow down man, I'm still working my way through all the legal stuff you linked above trying to get my head around the implications. So far my take is that the Tribunal totally sat on the fence, it's a legal Re-Use and it's a legal Refusal so the Appeal must be both allowed and dismissed. Ain't our legal system great !
Scanning the annual report the highlight has to be somebody registered an "AI Tartan"

[Jon_ni]

Steve
Even the Tribunal seemed to struggle with copious quotes and explainations of their interpretations. My take was the NRS's apparently have a legal right to simply deny data because they don't want to release it, by using the discresion which they have under RPSI (they have no discression under FOI).
If Ancestry want to pursue further they could make a Public Law challenge but that is outside the Tribunal's remit and juristiction. Ancestry submitted that none of its grounds was a pure public law challenge, but then go on to talk about other legal cases which might apply in part; beyond my man in the street grasp, sorry.

My take was it was more of a win for NRS really, but Ancestry could challenge further.

Grounds of Appeal dated 28 May 2024 requests Tribunal to substitute a Decision Notice. On 24 October 2024, the parties had agreed the principal issues. Tribubal heard at Field House, London on 13 and 14 January 2025. Deliberation on 14 January 2025, 21 March 2025 and 6 June 2025. Decision on 11 Sept 2025.

[David Nicoll]

Jon_ni

   Thanks for that makes interesting reading, for all that it is mostly blurb.
   Scotlands seems to be doing more for records than England, bigger per head spend, and that is reflected in the service I see, NLS has a fantastic old map resource that I see no equivalent for in England, may have missed it, but …
   One wonders what England could be doing if they were getting the full benefit of the profits Ancestry are making from English records.

  On a wider note Ancestry are not the only places to do research, and not everyone has an Ancestry account, I also feel that their ethos has changed since they were bought over. They are making a lot of money from all our research. Their licensing fees to there subsidiaries are eye watering.

[Jon_ni]

Chris Paton's evaluation on his Scottish Genes Blog.
https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/more-on-legal-proceedings-by-ancestry.html

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