[Ecommerce] Study on Database in EC and future WIPO treaty?

[Manon Ress]

<>FYI: I just came back from the =93Future of WIPO=94 TACD meeting in Genev=
a
(Sept 13-14, 2004). Many participants urged WIPO's Standing committee on
Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) to give up on future work on
database treaty (see story below). My personal notes show that the EC...
AND the US negotiators were both totally comfortable with the idea that
after the broadcasters' treaty is done the WIPO SCCR will work on the
database treaty. Maybe it will be easier than to do it here in Washington?
Manon

Washington Internet Daily. September 14, 2004

=91Unfinished Business=92
WIPO Urged to Give Up On Database Protection

GENEVA -- The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) should
rethink several items on its digital agenda, several panelists said Mon.
at the Transatlantic Consumers Dialog (TACD) conference here on WIPO=92s
future. One is the European Union=92s (EU) directive entitling non
original databases to copyright protection are controversial in some
quarters. That directive is making their way through WIPO=92s Standing
Committee on Copyright & Related Rights (SCCR), and one member of that
group urged that such =93unfinished business=94 be put to rest so WIPO can
move on to other issues. Others want to see the idea disappear entirely.

At issue is whether non original databases should continue to receive
copyright protection under a 1996 directive. The EC believes the item
should remain on the committee=92s agenda because such protection would
spur availability of non original databases, Wezenbeek said. At the
SCCR=92s last meeting, in June, several countries urged the item be
deleted, but Wezenbeek said more time is needed for discussion.

Rogier Wezenbeek, administrator-copyright & related rights in the EC=92s
Internal Market directorate-gen, was asked about studies indicating
protection for non original databases would have no advantage over no
protection. In the U.S., govt.-generated data are free, and there=92s some
evidence that system works better than the EU=92s, an audience member
said. WIPO has done 6 studies, not all supportive of the need for
database protection, Wezenbeek said. The EC is now awaiting a decision
in the European Court of Justice on a case concerning the U.K.=92s
interpretation of the EC=92s database directive, he said. One element
required under the directive for copyright protection for a non original
database is that it involve =93substantial investment,=94 he told us. But
=93substantial=94 has yet to be defined. The court is also expected to rule
on whether such issues should be decided on the European level or left
to member states=92 courts, he said. The U.K.=92s interpretation will be
=93authoritative,=94 he said. It=92s the first consideration, at the EU lev=
el,
of the sui generis database right.

The directive requires the EC to report on its effectiveness, a study
that=92s =93a few years late,=94 Wezenbeek said. It will take into account =
all
criticisms of the law as well as the court=92s decision, he said.
Developing countries don=92t yet understand how databases can work as
development tools for them, he said, but among those who represent the
copyright side, there=92s strong support for the directive in member
states. by Dugie Standeford