Teutas - Diritto & Tecnologia

The collection of information in a database, although not characterized by creativity, involves a considerable effort and use of resources. The European Community has therefore adopted a common framework for all its member states (directive 96/9/CE) in order to define a new form of protection for those who sponsor the creation of a database. So, apart from rules protecting "authorship" of a database, the EU Directive has provided a sui generis protection recognizing whomever makes a significant investment in the creation of the database itself. The characteristics of the sui generis right are purely "economic": it is the right for the maker of a database which shows that there has been qualitatively and/or quantitatively a substantial investment in either the obtaining, verification or presentation of the contents, to prevent extraction and/or re-utilization of the whole or of a substantial part, evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the contents of that database.

The U.S. approach to this issue differs, as in the US the extraction from a non original database falls simply under the rules on contracts or fair competition.

The case: professor Knoop of the Albrecht-Ludwigs University of Freiburg is responsible for the project "Klassikerwortschatz" ("Heritage of the classics"). The outcome of the project was an anthology (Anthology of Freiburg), which collects poems of the period between 1720 and 1933. Under the same project and functional to the publication of the Anthology, Knoop published on the web a list of a thousand and one hundred poems, listed by title, author, the first verse and year of publication. The poems in this collection, called "The 1100 most important poems of German literature between 1730 and 1900 'were selected on the basis of specific selection criteria from other anthologies and accompanied by information such as where the collection had been published and the date of composition. The project, funded by the University of Freiburg costed 34,900 euros and two and a half years of work, and was attended by many researchers coordinated by Professor Knoop.
After this project, the Directmedia Publishing GmbH published a CD-ROM entitled "The 1000 poems that everyone should have." Of a thousand poems, 856 are in the Knoop list too. Directmedia consulted the list of Knoop and took inspiration from it, choosing to publish a great part of listed poems, adding a few more of its own. It also sought the full texts of the poems on his behalf, where the list of Knoop showed only the first verse.
The question was if this particular way of coping was an extraction.
According to the ruling of the European Court of Justice on this case, the meaning of "extraction" should be interpreted in a broad sense according to the objective pursued by the EC Directive which created the sui generis right.

The concept of "extraction" does not depend on the nature and the mode of operation used for data transfer. It is not relevant whether the transfer is based on a technical process of copying a database protected by electronic means, electromagnetic, electro-optical, or similar. The copy of the content, manual included, on other media is to be considered 'extraction' as a download or a photocopy.
The removal of elements of a database protected and contextual inclusion in another database, following the consultation of the first database on the screen and the individual assessment of the elements contained in it, can be evaluated as an extraction.

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