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What are databases and do they matter?
Author(s) -
Kaye Laurie
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
learned publishing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.06
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-4857
pISSN - 0953-1513
DOI - 10.1087/09531519950145931
Subject(s) - citation , computer science , library science
The UK Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997 (SI 1997/ 3032) (‘the Regulations’) came into force on 1 January 1998. The Regulations implement the EU Directive on the Legal Protection of Databases into UK law (‘the Directive’). The term ‘Database’ includes all types of structured collections of literary and audiovisual material and data. It includes on-line databases which feed the wired world’s increasing appetite for digital content; collections on CD-ROMs and other fixed media; as well as printed databases such as directories, anthologies and guides. So anyone who is in the business of publishing or distributing databases needs to understand these Regulations and their impact on their business. They are the starting point for database contracts and provide the ammunition for legal action to stop unauthorised use of database contents. The Regulations do not change the position about the inclusion of copyright material in a database. For example, if an on-line database provider wants to include, say, articles from a newspaper or journal in a database, then the copyright in those articles must be cleared first.