Database rights

A sui generis 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.

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.

Although Law No. 9610/1998 confers database owners exclusive rights specifically for copying, distribution and translation of databases, it also states that this right is contingent upon the database being the result of an intellectual creation, therefore offering no sui generis database rights.

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. On 11 March 1996 the Council of the European Union 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.

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