Database Protection

A database is protected under copyright if creative choices have been made with regard to the database. Some databases are not creative and are therefore not protected by copyright. If substantial investments have been made in the realization of this non-creative database, protection may still accrue to this database on the basis of sui generis database law.

The sui generis database right is regulated in the Database Act. The Database Act provides the following definition of a database:

“a collection of works, data or other self-contained elements which are systematically or methodically arranged and which can be accessed separately by electronic means or otherwise and of which the acquisition, verification or presentation of the content is evidence of a substantial investment in qualitative or quantitative terms.”

A requirement of a protected database is that substantial investments must be made in that database. It does not matter whether the investment was made in the acquisition, verification or presentation of the data. It also does not matter whether the investment is qualitative (a lot of expertise has been invested in it) or quantitative (a lot of time and money has been invested in it).

The Database Act grants the producer of the database the exclusive right to request and reuse the database. Third parties require permission from the producer for these actions. Retrieving the database is similar to copying from copyright. Reusing the database is comparable to making it public.