Database firms to get exclusive rights

Date: 22/02/1996

By Fiona McHugh

IN a bid to prevent the theft of information on the Internet, EU foreign ministers are expected to grant extra legal protection to database owners at a meeting next week.

The measure, which will give creators of databases exclusive economic rights over their products, is the first in a series due to emanate from Brussels this year aimed at policing what many fear may become an unruly information society. At the moment, companies which painstakingly gather information for sale to other firms, have few legal weapons with which to pursue those who plunder their products.

“Creating a database and keeping it alive costs a lot of money and time, and yet rival commercial parties can copy them free of cost,” explains Alain Fallik of the Belgian publishing company, Landmarks, adding: “Obviously our databases are there to be used, but not misused.”

Database owners fear that by offering unprecedented access to data, the information society will cause an upsurge in the theft as well as the sale of information.

The Commission also fears that without guarantees, potential investors in the electronic databases needed to provide on- and off-line services will be scared off, leaving Europe trailing the US in the race to embrace the information age.

“By putting in place this innovative and comprehensive measure, which will ensure an appropriate level of protection for creators and investors in databases, the EU will be showing an example to the rest of the world,” says Internal Single Market Commissioner Mario Monti.

Under the new rules, database creators would be allowed to bar others legally from using their information either in full or in part (provided that part was 'substantial').

The legislation would apply to paper and electronic databases, providing sui generis protection valid for 15 years - although it could be extended if substantial new investments were to take place.

But the rights of traditional copyright holders, such as artists whose works are included in the contents of a database, would not be affected by the new law.

Copyright has become a hot topic in European circles, with representatives of the film, music, publishing and other industries calling on the Commission to bolster their rights to help them survive on the information superhighway.