Copyright is at the heart of database protection...

For anyone here following digital-content developments--

The House of Representatives on 23rd May, 1996 introduced a new bill to promote investment and prevent intellectual property piracy with respect to databases. Enactment of this Act carries a number of implications, especially in light of the commercial use of the Web:

   o more protection for databases than there was before    o online transmission does not exhaust IP rights    o harmonizing copyright law, so anyone could not exloit the contents

      of a Website
   o great monopolistic implications that would discourage

      interoperability, or a "first-to-market" issue.

***New Paper. "U.S. Legal Protection for Databases" is obtainable from the Fenwick New Media Publication server at

   http://www.oikoumene.com/oikoumene/databprotect.html

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Sandy Jane Wong, Digital Media Strategist Oikoumene Online Marketing
Ph: 415-851-7233 FAX: 415-851-4834 EMail: sandy[_at_]oikoumene.com URL (WWW Multimedia Law): http://www.oikoumene.com/
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Received on Thu Oct 24 1996 - 00:32:27 GMT