RE: Database Protection -- Information Industry Perspective

From: Karen Coyle <kec[_at_]dla.ucop.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 96 14:23:16 pdt

> Dan Duncan <dduncan[_at_]infoindustry.org>:
>
> Enactment of an international treaty and a U.S. law providing for
> non-copyright protection against unfair competition in the database
> industry is a solution in the best interests of all database users.

I don't understand why databases need "non-copyright" protection. Databases that have any kind of originality of content are already covered by copyright, aren't they? And aren't these the high-quality information products that you are talking about?

I disagree with some of the assumptions in the WIPO document on database protection. To begin with, it states that "exact copies of whole databases or their essential parts can be made at practically no cost." This is simply not true. Among other things, few accessible databases allow you to do a search that would retrieve the entire contents of the database. And rarely are the retrieved records even the entire contents of the record. Database management is a complex activity with a lot hidden behind the scenes. Anyone wanting to copy a database of even minor complexity would need to receive copies of the database input data, not the output, and that input data is not available through any kind of "attack" on the database itself.

And for it being at practically no cost - boy, is that wrong! Unless the database owner kindly dumps the whole thing to tape for you, the costs for sucking down a major amount of data from a database are quite large.

I also wish that someone would define "their essential parts" for me. And where does fair use come in to the picture?

The WIPO document also advocates "Protection against unauthorized copying and other unauthorized use..."

What is meant by "use" here? Are we now regulating use of data above and beyond the copying of data? Does this mean that all use is under the control of the database owner? That isn't how we treat other intellectual property - the owner of intellectual property rights for a book cannot say how that book can be used. "Use" rights can be a real threat to intellectual freedom.

The WIPO document also says "Many valuable databases do not qualify for copyright protection." Can you give me some examples of these databases (beyond the phone book, please)?

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Karen Coyle <kec[_at_]dla.ucop.edu>
University of California - Library Automation http://www.dla.ucop.edu/~kec Received on Wed Oct 30 1996 - 22:52:39 GMT