Volume II

Issue : 5: March 4, 2004

• ICANN Faces Suits over Internet Domain Name Regulatory Practices
• Microsoft Brings Its Battle with Lindows to Canada
• U.S. Federal Trade Commission Levies Fines under the Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act
• California Appeals Court Reverses Order Prohibiting Internet Publication of DVD-Cracking Code
• FDA Sends Warning to Minnesota over its Prescription Drug Website
• Texas Doctor Sentenced to Jail for Prescribing over the Internet
• District Court Enjoins Manufacture and Distribution of DVD copying software
• U.S. Do-Not-Call Registry Does Not Violate the First Amendment
• U.S. Court Rules Extraction of Data by American Company from a Canadian Companys Online Database Does Not Violate DMCA
• UK High Court Asserts Jurisdiction in Internet Libel Case
• U.S. Supreme Court Rules No Recovery against Government for Privacy Act Violations without Actual Damages
• Supreme Court of Canada Rules Law Society's Photocopying Policy Does Not Violate Copyright Law

Home > Volume II > Issue 5: March 4, 2004 > U.S. Court Rules Extraction of Data by American Company from a Canadian Companys Online Database Does Not Violate DMCA

U.S. Court Rules Extraction of Data by American Company from a Canadian Companys Online Database Does Not Violate DMCA

In a recent unpublished decision of the United States District Court in New York, Judge Naomi Buchwald of that Court has ruled that the alleged downloading of marketing database information from the computer website of a competitor company does not violate the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Nevertheless, Judge Buchwald did allow the case to proceed to trial because of a potential violation of a different statute, namely the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The latter Act prohibits access to an Internet-connected computer without valid authorization.

The case is Inquiry Management Systems (IMS) v. Berkshire. IMS is a Canadian company that maintains an extensive Web based database called "e-Basket", used by potential advertisers seeking to assess the market for their products through targeted advertising. Berkshire of Lenox, Massachusetts is a rival company that offers competing services to clients in the advertising industry. The Court held that since the defendant company may in fact have legitimately obtained access to the subject data through the use of a proper password, the DMCA does not extend copyright protection to the plaintiff for the bulk downloading of its Web based data. Accordingly, Judge Buchwald reasoned that the conduct of the defendant did not amount to a circumvention of a security system designed for the protection of copyrighted material.

The extension of copyright protection to databases has in recent time become a contentious issue in the US legislature with large database owners such as Reed Elsevier and Thomson strongly advocating in favor of protection. Opposing any such legislative scheme are companies such as Amazon.com, AT&T, Google and Yahoo, all of whom require liberal access to databases for the mass marketing of their services.

For more information, visit:
http://news.com.com/2102-1024_3-5165624.html?tag+st.util.print