database protection (Was: Preemption)

Kerry Konrad's <k_konrad[_at_]stblaw.com> list of concerns:
>
> Opponents of that legislation should at least consider the legitimacy
> of these concerns in light of the very substantial costs of assembling
> such databases in a comprehensive, accurate fashion, the utility of
> these databases in facilitating the efficient functioning of the
> financial markets (thereby reducing the cost of capital for all
> industries), and the technical ease with which they could be copied
> in the absence of contractual or statutory protection.

We have considered that. I think that the competition should and still would be on the basis of value-addedness. That is, if someone compiles a nationwide phone directory, which, of course, just has facts in it - names matched with phone numbers - the only thing protectable should be the software for search, display, etc. That is, the stuff that makes the database accessible and easy to use. There would be plenty of room to compete on that basis. Plus, the first one in gets some advantage, howsoever short-lived.

The marketing and the risks and front-end costs are different today than in the days of just paper products. This does not mean that we should preserve that which served some interests, indeed, most intersts quite well. It indeed tends to mean, to me at least, that we should rethink and rework those ideas.

Cheers,
Steve

--
Steven D. Jamar
Professor of Law
Director LRW Program
Howard University School of Law
2900 Van Ness Street NW
Washington, DC  20008

vox:  202-806-8017   fax:  202-806-8428
email:  sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu

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