Court advisor says poem list infringed database right

Europe's highest court could strengthen the rights of database creators to protect their work. One of the European Court of Justice's Advocates General has issued an opinion backing a German University's right to stop others using information it compiled. A European Union Directive protects the content of databases even when they are not protected by copyright law. It does this to protect the significant investment involved in creating a database. Sufficiently creative and original databases are protected by copyright, but there are many others that are not covered by copyright law, such as telephone directories, music charts or football match listings. The database right received a setback in 2004 in a case in which the British Horseracing Board (BHB) was told that it could not refuse bookmaker William Hill access to its... [read full story]