Re: Database Protection Paper

From: Dan L. Burk <BURKDANL[_at_]shu.edu>
Date: Sat, 04 Oct 1997 10:19:28 -0400

On 10/3/97, Eric Massant <eric.massant[_at_]lexis-nexis.com> wrote:
>
> "Statutory Protection for Databases: Economic and Public Policy
> Issues," by Drs. Laura D'Andrea Tyson and Edward F. Sherry is
> posted at http://www.infoindustry.org/ppgrc/doclib/grdoc015.htm. It
> was sponsored by Reed Elsevier Inc. and The Thomson Corporation.

This paper was commissioned as an attempt to respond to the devastating critique of such statutory proposals found in J.H. Reichman & Pamela Samuelson, Intellectual Property Rights in Data?, 50 Vanderbilt L. Rev. 51 (1997). Interested parties should read both papers to fully understand the parameters of the debate.

> The paper provides a strong economic rationale for legal protection
> from piracy for databases produced by private entities. The authors
> argue that this protection is necessary to ensure the continued
> availability of the information services upon which Americans rely
> in both their public and private lives.

There is, of course, the little datum that we already enjoy such works without protectionist legislation. Waiter, may I have my reality check?

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Dan L. Burk
Seton Hall University
burkdanl[_at_]shu.edu

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Received on Sat Oct 04 1997 - 14:11:38 GMT