The database right is the exclusive right of the producer of a database to prevent extraction and re-utilisation of a substantial part of its contents. It protects investment rather than creativity: only a producer who has demonstrably invested substantially in obtaining, verifying or presenting the data acquires the right.
Legal basis
The Dutch Databases Act implements Directive 96/9/EC. Article 1 defines the database and the producer, Article 2 grants the exclusive right and Article 6 sets the term at fifteen years, running from 1 January following completion. A substantial new investment starts a fresh term. A database may in addition be protected by copyright where the selection or arrangement is the author’s own intellectual creation; that is a separate right with a different duration. The Court of Justice held in the football fixture list cases that investment in creating the data itself does not count, only investment in collecting it.
How it works in practice
The right matters most for price comparison sites, job boards, listing portals and research collections. Anyone wishing to rely on it should document the investment: hours, purchasing costs, and the cost of verification and cleaning. Without those records the threshold of substantial investment is hard to meet in litigation. Against scrapers the right bites only where a substantial part is extracted, or where small parts are extracted repeatedly and systematically.
Where it goes wrong
Many businesses assume every data file is protected. It is not: for files that arise as a by-product of the business, such as a customer list, the claim often fails because the investment lies in creating rather than collecting. Conversely, those doing the scraping underestimate that repeated extraction of small parts can also be unlawful. Where the database contains personal data, the GDPR applies in full alongside this right.
Related terms
The database right sits alongside copyright in software and, where personal data are involved, connects to the data processing agreement with the party hosting the file.
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