[Aust-NZ] Anyone able to get/offer proper legal advice over ODBL? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Roger Longhorn]

Bruce,

Just to point out that I am not an IPR lawyer, but do have two advanced 
course certificates from the WIPO Academy in "Copyright and Related 
Rights" and "Electronic Commerce and Intellectual Property".

Back in 2002, I co-authored a legal guide to spatial data and tools  for 
the CGIAR - which is available for free from: 
http://csi.cgiar.org/download/IPR_Primer.pdf

We are currently updating this guide to reflect changes in Internet use 
and further developments in IPR legislation and practice, especially in 
regard to database protection in the EU, for publication on the GSDI 
Association's on-line SDI Cookbook - that should be ready by mid-January.

Guess I just have too much time on my hands! ;>)

All the best

Roger

Bruce Bannerman wrote:
> Roger,
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Its good to get an authoritative response.
>
> Bruce
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Roger Longhorn [ral at alum.mit.edu]
> Sent: Tuesday, 8 December 2009 9:08 PM
> To: Bruce Bannerman
> Cc: aust-nz at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [Aust-NZ] Anyone able to get/offer proper legal advice over        ODBL? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
>
> Bruce,
>
> The EU adopted a legally enforceable Directive on the Protection of
> Databases (attached) in 1996 which came into full operation in 1998 -
> and now applies to all 27 EU Member States - so we now have a decade of
> experience with it. See
> http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31996L0009:EN:HTML
> for the Directive. Member States enacted their own national legislation
> to implement the Directive, which was completed many years ago.
>
> Such protection does not exist outside the EU (generally), although
> Article 10 of TRIPS - the AGREEMENT ON TRADE-RELATED ASPECTS OF
> INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS - of the World Trade Organisation (WTO),
> does protect both computer programmes and 'compilations of data'
> (http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/intel2_e.htm#generalprovisions):
>
> ====
> Article 10 - Computer Programs and Compilations of Data
>
> 1. Computer programs, whether in source or object code, shall be
> protected as literary works under the Berne Convention (1971).
>
> 2. Compilations of data or other material, whether in machine readable
> or other form, which by reason of the selection or arrangement of their
> contents constitute intellectual creations shall be protected as such.
> Such protection, which shall not extend to the data or material itself,
> shall be without prejudice to any copyright subsisting in the data or
> material itself.
>
> <end extract>
>
> The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
> (administered by WIPO - http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/),
> while protecting 'maps' (listed specifically in Article 2), also
> protects 'collections' (as defined below), but this does not cover
> databases, especially electronic databases:
>
> (5) Collections of literary or artistic works such as encyclopaedias and
> anthologies which, by reason of the selection and arrangement of their
> contents, constitute intellectual creations shall be protected as such,
> without prejudice to the copyright in each of the works forming part of
> such collections.
> <ends extract>
>
> WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) mounted initiatives over
> the past 15 years to extend coverage to databases, especially after the
> EU's adoption of its database protection Directive in 1996, creating
> what many consider to be an uneven playing field between the (now) 27 EU
> Member States and the rest of the world - but these have always been
> stopped due to refusal of certain main signatories (such as the USA) to
> agree to such an amendment.
>
> So, yes, the databases of Ordnance Survey - and any other organisation
> based in the EU - are protected by national law, harmonized across
> Europe by the Directive. Specifically in the UK, the Directive is
> enacted and enforced via "The Copyright and Rights in Databases
> Regulations of 1997", (Statutory Instrument SI 3032).
>
> Coverage (as per the Directive) is for 15 years and is extended
> automatically based on how often a database is updated. Since OS claims
> that their primary datasets are updated up to 50,000 times daily (the
> lowest reported figure is 5,000), which is purported to involve new
> investment in the database, then these datasets are effectively
> protected in perpetuity, as per Article 10 of the Directive:
>
> Article 10 - Term of Protection (Database Protection Directive)
>
> 3. Any substantial change, evaluated qualitatively or quantitatively, to
> the contents of a database, including any substantial change resulting
> from the accumulation of successive additions, deletions or alterations,
> which would result in the database being considered to be a substantial
> new investment, evaluated qualitatively or quantitatively, shall qualify
> the database resulting from that investment for its own term of protection.
> <ends>
>
> Sorry to go on for so long - but you asked for it! (See you in April.)
>
> Kind regards
>
> Roger
> ral at alum.mit.edu
> roger at geoconnexion.com
>
>
> Bruce Bannerman wrote:
>   
>>> The assumption here I think is based on US law where a
>>> database of facts aren't copyrightable.
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> I vaguely recall a study from the UK based on Ordnance Survey data in a database that came up with the argument that data in a database could be subject to copyright.
>>
>> RAL, would you care to comment?
>>
>>
>> Bruce_______________________________________________
>> Aust-NZ mailing list
>> Aust-NZ at lists.osgeo.org
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/aust-nz
>>
>>
>>
>>     
>
>
>