Database right
Copyright Protection

The Database Right is a sui generis form of copyright protection designed to specifically protect databases, regardless of their form or format.  The introduction of the Database Right in the UK saw certain provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 UK disapplied to the protection of database. Prior to the introduction of the Database Right, databases were protected by as literary works (as tables and compilations). This is no longer the case.

The introduction of the database right in the UK at this time has not proved to offer the same breadth of protection that was in place previously. The decision of British Horse Racing Board v Willham Hill, handed down by the European Court of Justice was a decision that had tended to confuse and cloud the application of the Database Right, especially the criterion for subsistence of protection.

The Database Right grew out of recognition that databases are a fundamental part of commerce; industries generate a wealth of information and a large part of competitiveness is based on the content of databases. For instance, databases are key to service-based industries - analogous to machinery in manufacturing based industries. The aim of the Database Directive (9/96/EC) is to create a stable and uniform legal protection regime across the EU for such databases.