Database rights were created by Directive 96/9/EC (the Database Directive), with the aim of encouraging and protecting the investment in databases. A database is defined in the legislation as “a collection of independent works, data or other materials which are arranged in a systematic or methodical way and are individually accessible by electronic or other means”, and qualifies for protection if there has been a “substantial investment” in obtaining, verifying or presenting the contents of the database. Broadly speaking, a person infringes the database right if they extract or re-utilise all or a substantial part of the contents of a protected database without the consent of the owner.
Summary In the case of Wright & Ors v BTC Core & Ors [2023] EWHC 222 the High Court was faced with a technical copyright question about whether literary copyright can subsist in the file format used for the Bitcoin System (the “Bitcoin File Format”). Justice Mellor concluded that copyright could not subsist in the…
Introduction On 23 February 2022, the European Commission (EC) published a Proposal for a ‘Regulation on harmonised rules on fair access to and use of data (Data Act)’. This legal instrument will horizontally set rules applicable to the relationship between manufacturers and users of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The Data Act Proposal assigns users…
The European Copyright Society posted an opinion on selected aspects of the proposed Data Act. The aim of the Data Act’s sui generis clause (art. 35) to reduce the availability of IP rights over some datasets is welcome. However, its drafting is flawed and risks creating even more fragmentation in the laws of Member States….
Last week the European Commission published its proposal for a Data Act. The proposal is the second major element of the European Data Strategy presented in 2020 and complements the Data Governance Act that is expected to be formally adopted this spring. As expected, the proposed Data Act introduces rules strengthening user access and portability…
In retrospect, life was simple in 1996, the year that gave us the Database directive and its much-maligned sui generis right aimed at promoting a European database industry. Fast forward and see: The Database directive stands unchanged and there is still no clear evidence that the then-new intellectual property right is an effective instrument. At…
On 3 June 2021, the CJEU handed down its judgment in CV-Online Latvia v Melons (with Ilešič as a reporting judge), a case involving Melons’ infringement of CV-Online Latvia’s database of job advertisements arguably protected by the sui generis right. The facts of the case are expertly described by Tatiana Synodinou in her comment on the…
In this new series we will be updating readers every three months on developments in EU copyright law. This will include Court of Justice (CJEU) and General Court judgments, Advocate Generals’ (AG) opinions, and important policy developments. The end of 2020 Since this is the first issue of our round up, we have also…
On 14 January 2021, Advocate General (AG) Szpunar delivered his Opinion in Case C‑762/19, SIA ‘CV-Online Latvia’ v SIA ‘Melons’, a further case relating to the database sui generis right. The application of the sui generis right to the activity of search engines was the main question raised in this case. Specifically, a specialist search…
The Spanish Supreme Court dismissed the cassation appeal filed by the Spanish affiliate of the American group IMS HEALTH against the judgment of the Provincial Appellate Court of Madrid ordering them to pay damages of 5 million euros for misappropriating and selling part of the content of a database developed by the claimant company. INFONIS,…
With the growth of the ‘data-driven economy’and the rise of ‘Big Data’ have come calls for the introduction of a novel property right in data. Apparently in response to demands from the German automotive industry, the European Commission has in its 2017 Communication on ‘Building a European data economy’ advanced the idea of creating a…
