The Legal Protection of Data Bases

Description:

BOOK REVIEW

THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF DATABASES

A Comparative Analysis

By Estelle Derclaye

ISBN: 978-1-84720-133-1

EDWARD ELGAR PUBLISHING

www.e-elgar.com

A FAIR DEAL FOR THE NEW DATA MODEL

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

This book has a wide-ranging appeal for all lawyers, students and those in the public and private sectors who are now covered by the rules concerning all aspects of data usage. Estelle Derclaye’s aim is to examine and compare the several types of protection available for what she calls the “investment in database creation” because there is still no recognised international harmonization between the major players.

Many will know, as professionals or learners that in some jurisdictions there are laws which over-protect database contents, whilst in others there is under-protection. So, Derclaye sets out her comparative analysis with an introduction, 10 chapters, and a conclusion plus an excellent, extensive and detailed bibliography, an annex stating Directive 96/9/EC and a full index. We went to the conclusion first as this book was based on Derclaye’s doctoral thesis and we wanted to see what her recommendation is. It is a good one!

Estelle Derclaye recommends that Europe should revise the Directive and suggests that the United States, other countries and WIPO or the WTO adopt the model she sets out in chapter 10 declaring that this model is “a compromise between American misappropriation and the European ‘sui generis’ right”, and “is balanced enough and can be enacted”. It is always good with a book like this one to have a solution to offer rather than the usual moaning about the problem, so how does the author get to her conclusion?

The answer is in the structure of a well-thought out and conveniently structured analysis which examines and compares several methods available for the prote

Francis Jacobs will clearly be seen as one of the founding fathers of modern EU jurisprudence with his 574 Opinions set out in order at the Annex to this splendid compilation of views edited by Philip Moser and Katrine Sawyer.

There are ten highly distinguished appreciations from sixteen of the most prominent names associated with the development of EU Law in practice and in the academic world. The book will be seen as a piece of history of the early days of European law-making done in a warm, friendly and at times jolly manner from the conference in 2006 where this book was born (the United Kingdom Association of European Law), and where Lord Slynn pays tribute to the quality of Jacobs’ opinions and their jurisprudential correctness in his thoughtful preface.

When we were law students, we did not really understand the role of the Advocate General properly so the book is a good reminder of the role to me many years later. The job Jacobs did was to provide independent and impartial opinion once the parties had completed their submissions but before the judges had begun their deliberations in a particular matter. Like everything in the EU, it takes time up but this concept and method of creating community law is a new way (to some) to look at legal problems and assess the correct outcomes when one is dealing with such a variety of cultures and customs on the continent.