A database right is a ''
sui generis
''Sui generis'' ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique".
A number of disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include:
* Biology, for species that do not fit in ...
''
property right
The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership) is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely and is typically h ...
, comparable to but distinct from
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
, 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.
[ United Kingdom implementation of the EU directive. Section .
] Such rights are often referred to in the plural: database rights.
The
TRIPS Agreement
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is an international legal agreement between all the member nations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). It establishes minimum standards for the regulation by nat ...
requires that copyright protection extends to databases and other compilations if they constitute intellectual creation by virtue of the selection or arrangement of their contents, even if some or all of the contents do not themselves constitute materials protected by copyright. Many countries act in accordance with this requirement, as databases are protected by copyright if this condition is met, and there is no separate intellectual property right protecting databases (or any aspects of them) that do not meet the condition for copyright protection. The database right extends protection over databases which does not depend on the condition required for copyright protection, and is recognised only in a small number of jurisdictions, most notably the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
Countries that recognise database rights
European Union
In
European Union law
European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union (EU). Since the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community following World War II, the EU has developed the aim to "promote peace, its valu ...
, database rights are specifically coded (i.e. ''
sui generis
''Sui generis'' ( , ) is a Latin phrase that means "of its/their own kind", "in a class by itself", therefore "unique".
A number of disciplines use the term to refer to unique entities. These include:
* Biology, for species that do not fit in ...
'') laws on the copying and dissemination of information in
computer databases. These rights were first introduced in 1996. On 11 March 1996 the
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...
passed
Directive 96/9/EC of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases, 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.
United Kingdom
On 1 January 1998, The Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997 came into force, which implemented the
EU Database Directive
The Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases
is a directive of the European Union in the field of copyright law, made under the internal market provisions of the T ...
. These regulations made a number of amendments to the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988c 48, also known as the CDPA, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received Royal Assent on 15 November 1988. It reformulates almost completely the statutory basis of copyright law ( ...
with respect to databases, a database being defined as
:"a collection of independent works, data or other materials which ---
::(a) are arranged in a systematic or methodical way, and
::(b) are individually accessible by electronic or other means"
The regulations extend existing copyright law to databases, to the extent that they constitute "the author's own intellectual creation".
In addition, regulations 13 and 14 create a database right. Database rights automatically subsist if there has been a "substantial investment in obtaining, verifying or presenting the contents" of the database.
Such rights remain in force under regulation 17(2) until the end of the 15th calendar year from the date on which the database was first made available to the public. During that period, database right will be infringed by any person who, without consent, "extracts or re-uses all or a substantial part of the contents of the database", whether all at once or by repeated extractions of "insubstantial" parts.
On the other hand, any lawful user of the database has a right under regulation 19(1) "to extract or re-use insubstantial parts of the data for any purpose", and that right cannot be restricted by the database owner (regulation 19(2)). The term "substantial" is defined to mean "substantial in terms of quantity or quality or a combination of both".
Under the
Brexit withdrawal agreement
The Brexit withdrawal agreement, officially titled Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, is a treaty between the European Uni ...
, database rights that existed before 1 January 2021 retain reciprocal recognition between the UK and
EEA for their original duration, while those created on or after that date are only protected within the creator's jurisdiction - either the EEA ''or'' the UK.
Russia
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
The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (russian: Гражданский кодекс Российской Федерации, frequently abbreviated 'ГК РФ') is the prime source of civil law for the Russian Federation. The Russian Civil Law ...
provides for the registration of rights, which is useful if the claims are disputed in court.
Russia generally follows the EU model, there are some differences.
Countries that do not recognise database rights
Australia
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
''Telstra Corporation Limited v Desktop Marketing Systems Pty Ltd'' is a 2001 decision of the Federal Court of Australia related to the originality required to attract copyright protection. Heard before Justice Finkelstein in June 2000, the cas ...
'' 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.
United States
Uncreative collections of facts are outside of Congressional authority under the
Copyright Clause
The Copyright Clause (also known as the Intellectual Property Clause, Copyright and Patent Clause, or the Progress Clause) describes an enumerated power listed in the United States Constitution ( Article I, Section 8, Clause 8).
The clause, wh ...
(Article I, § 8, cl. 8) of the United States Constitution, therefore no database right exists in the United States. Originality is the ''
sine qua non
''Sine qua non'' (, ) or ''condicio sine qua non'' (plural: ''condiciones sine quibus non'') is an indispensable and essential action, condition, or ingredient. It was originally a Latin legal term for " conditionwithout which it could not be" ...
'' of copyright in the United States (''see
Feist Publications v. Rural Telephone Service
''Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co.'', 499 U.S. 340 (1991), was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States establishing that information alone without a minimum of original creativity cannot be protected by ...
''). This has not stopped database owners lobbying for the introduction of such a right, but so far bills to introduce it in the US have been prevented by the successful lobbying of research libraries, consumer groups and firms who benefit from the free use of factual information.
[
]
Brazil
In Brazil
Federal Law No. 9610 of 1998(the Law of the authorial rights) confers database owners exclusive rights specifically for copying, distribution and translation of databases.
The same law also states that this right is contingent upon the database being the result of an intellectual creation, which may be deemed so based on "the selection, organization, or disposition of its content".
Therefore, consistent with international law and the position in many jurisdictions, legislation in Brazil may or may not offer copyright protection to databases, depending on how the database was developed.
See also
*
Copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
*
meta:Wikilegal/Database Rights
*
Open Database License
The Open Database License (ODbL) is a copyleft license agreement intended to allow users to freely share, modify, and use a database while maintaining this same freedom for others.
ODbL is published by Open Data Commons, which is part of Open Kn ...
*
Sweat of the brow
Sweat of the brow is an intellectual property law doctrine that is chiefly related to copyright law. According to this doctrine, an author gains rights through simple diligence during the creation of a work, such as a database, or a directory. ...
References
External links
*
*{{DMOZ, Society/Law/Legal_Information/Intellectual_Property/Copyrights/, Copyright as a legal issue
Database law