Database producer protection: between rights and liabilities

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical analysis of the main legal questions in relation to database sui generis protection as a means of regulating the exploitation and dissemination of information assets in the digital economy. It also discusses how this regime interacts with other means or layers of database protection, namely protection by means of contract law and unfair competition law. The chapter is divided into two main parts. In the first part, the rationale and the conceptual pillars of the sui generis regime are examined. At the same time, the inefficiencies of the sui generis regime are highlighted, with emphasis on its application to new technological changes and the data driven economy. The second part is dedicated to the analysis of the protection of databases by contract law and unfair competition law and the possible overlap of the sui generis regime with those alternative or complementary forms of protection.