Volume II

Issue : 22: November 18, 2004

• European Court of Justice Releases Decisions on Scope of Database Protection
• Idaho Obtains Judgement to Permanently Ban Fax Spammer from State
• UPS and Other Couriers File Suit against Maines Tobacco Sales Law
• Indian Supreme Court Finds Computer Software a Good not a Service
• FCC VoIP Ruling Removes Regulatory Power from the States
• Privacy Commissioner of Canada releases Annual Report
• Dow Jones Settling Internet Defamation Case by Gutnick
• B.C. Privacy Commissioner Releases Report on U.S. PATRIOT Act
• Ontario Judge Awards Significant Damages in Cyber libel Case
• WTO Report Finds U.S. in Breach of GATS over Online Gambling Dispute
• Judge Finds Content from the Internet Archive Website Admissible

Home > Volume II > Issue 22: November 18, 2004 > European Court of Justice Releases Decisions on Scope of Database Protection

European Court of Justice Releases Decisions on Scope of Database Protection

European Court of Justice Releases Decisions on Scope of Database Protection According to a November 9, 2004 press release by the European Court of Justice "[n]either the obtaining, verification nor presentation of the contents of a football fixture list or a schedule of horse races constitute substantial investment giving rise to protection against the use of the data by third parties." Moreover, the definition of 'substantial investment' which gives rise to protection for the maker of a database against unauthorized acts of copying and distribution to the public covers only the work involved in seeking, collecting, verifying and presenting existing materials and not the resources used to create the materials which makeup the database.

The EC Directive on the legal protection of databases confers a sui generis right of protection, prohibiting the unfair extraction of a substantial part of a database reflecting "substantial investment". "Substantial investment" refers to any qualitatively or quantitatively significant investment of human, financial, technical or other resources in the making of a database. On the basis of the Directive, manufacturers of databases will be in a position to prohibit the extraction and/or reutilization of the entirety or substantial parts of the database by third parties.

In coming to its decision in a number of cases involving a company called Fixtures Marketing Ltd., the European Court of Justice reasoned that football player and match information contained within a fixtures list was not an 'investment', in that investment does not cover the resources used to create the database but rather the finding and collecting of information. Moreover, notwithstanding that the sporting schedule could be technically considered a database as defined under the EU Directive, the court found that it was not worthy of protection due to the fact that there was no "substantial investment" incurred in compiling the list.

In another case, involving BHB which organizes British horse racing by compiling a database containing lists of horses entered for a race, the Court reasoned that the resources used by BHB in organizing the races, deciding dates, times and places, names of the race and horses constituted investment in the creation of the information found within its database. However, the Court reasoned that verification of the information took place at the same time the information was created and thus did not constitute an investment in the verification of the contents of the database per the Directive. In as much as the material was extracted and re-utilized by William Hill, this did not require an investment on the part of BHB and therefore did not constitute a substantial part of the contents of the BHB database. Moreover, the cumulative effect of extracting and re-utilizing the insubstantial components of the BHB database would not amount to reconstituting and making available the whole of the database.

For copies of the cases, visit:

http://www.curia.eu.int/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=en