| Intellectual property law |
|---|
| Primary rights |
| Copyright · authors' rights · related rights · moral rights · patent · utility model · trademark · geographical indication · trade secret |
| Sui generis rights |
| Database right · indigenous intellectual property · industrial design right · mask work · plant breeders' rights · supplementary protection certificate |
| Related topics |
| Societal views · orphan works · public domain · more |
In European Union law, database rights are specifically coded (i.e. sui generis) laws on the copying and dissemination of information in computer databases. These rights were first introduced in 1996.
A database right is considered to be a property right, comparable to but distinct from copyright, that exists to recognise the investment that is made in compiling a database, even when this does not involve the 'creative' aspect that is reflected by copyright.[1]
On 11 March 1996 the Council of the European Union passed Directive No. 96/9/EC of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases,[2] giving specific and separate legal rights (and limitations) to certain computer records. The law calls these database rights.
Rights afforded to manual records under EU database rights laws are similar in format, but not identical, to those afforded artistic works.
Database rights last for 15 years. Each time a database is substantially modified, however, a new set of rights are created for that database. An owner has the right to object to the copying of substantial parts of their database, even if data is extracted and reconstructed piecemeal. Database rights under the EU are created automatically, vested in the employers of creators (when the action of creation was part of employment), and do not have to be registered to have effect.
Database rights are independent of copyright: The arrangement, selection, and presentation of the data may be protected by copyright, while the database as a whole can be protected by database right.[3]
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On 1 January 1998, the United Kingdom's law "The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations of 1997"[4] came into force.
Uncreative collections of facts are outside of Congressional authority under the Copyright Clause (Article I, § 8, cl. 8) of the United States Constitution, therefore no database right exists in the United States. The sine qua non of copyright, in the United States, is originality. (see Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service). This has not stopped database owners lobbying for the introduction of such a right, but so far bills to introduce it in the U.S. have been prevented by the successful lobbying of research libraries, consumer groups and firms who benefit from the free use of factual information.[5]
No specific law exists in Australia protecting databases. Databases may only be protected if they fall under general copyright law. Australian copyright law regarding compilations is currently examined in case law, where an initial case, Telstra v Desktop Marketing Systems was successfully litigated by Telstra, establishing a database right; however this was overturned in a later ruling, IceTV v Nine Network, where sufficient creativity was established as the defining characteristic of copyright.
In article 1260 of the Civil Code of Russia, a database is a collection of independent materials presented in an objective form (articles, accounts, legal texts, judicial decisions, and other similar materials), which are systematically arranged in a way that these materials can be found and processed by a computer. A database need not be registered to enjoy legal protection, but the Civil Code of Russia provides for the registration of rights, which is useful if the claims are disputed in court.[6]