Torremans, Paul --- "Choice of Law in EU Copyright Directives" [2009] ELECD 177; in Derclaye, Estelle (ed), "Research Handbook on the Future of EU Copyright" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Future of EU Copyright

Editor(s): Derclaye, Estelle

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847203922

Section: Chapter 18

Section Title: Choice of Law in EU Copyright Directives

Author(s): Torremans, Paul

Number of pages: 23

Extract:

17 The protection of databases
Matthias Leistner



1. Introduction
The European harmonization of database protection through Directive
96/9/EC on the Legal Protection of Databases (Directive)1 has become the
object of intense controversy.
While the harmonization of traditional copyright in databases ­ based upon
the condition of an individual selection or arrangement of the elements of a
database ­ can be regarded as comparatively unproblematic,2 the new sui
generis right to protect substantial investments in databases has been the topic
of lively discussion and criticism in legal writing. Thus, critics in literature
emphasized that the new law would create a monopoly right in information as
such, alien to essential principles of intellectual property law and endangering
freedom of competition and freedom of access to information.3 The evaluation
report of the European Commission of 20054 at first sight seems to endorse


1 Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March
1996 on the Legal Protection of Databases, OJ EC L 77, at 20 et seq.
2 See on the comparatively less problematic copyright provisions of the
Directive and on the changes in this field from a continental European point of view
e.g. Leistner, 33 IIC 2002, p. 439, at 446 et seq.: particularly, it has to be pointed out
that the Directive ­ in contrast to the optional model in the more recent Information
Society Directive (Directive 2001/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 22 May 2001 ...