US contrasted to EU in re Copyright on Databases David S. Wise Indiana University

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 2 An American View U.S. Constitution, I.8.8: The Congress shall have Power…to Promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. When did the USA join the Berne convention? 1960? 1970? 1980? 1990? When did the EU issue its database protocol? Why wasn’t it included in the 1996 Geneva WIPO draft treaty?

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 3 Rights of Copyright Reproduction. Distribution. Derivative Works. Marketing, Lending. Performance, Exhibition.

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 4 Why WIPO IP Treaties. Market for intellectual property is world-wide. Copyright holders need enforcement of Country-A copyright also in Country B. Successful treaties level the field between frequent customers and all comers Normalized protocols simplify and encourage world trade. World peace ?

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 5 (An American quirk: “Fair Use” defined.) 1. (Non-commercial) purpose and character of use (e.g. satire). 2. The nature of the copyrighted work. 3. The amount and substantiality of the portion relative to the copyrighted work as a whole. 4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. And then there’s “moral rights.”

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 6 Library and Databases, personal opinion A database is a library. Libraries are/will become databases. –Carnegie libraries in USA: 100 years ago. –Local: Dunfirmline, Fife. George IV Bridge. –Will the public library survive? Sui generis is a flawed concept. –Perpetually self-renewing. –Yields copyrights on uncopyrighted material: Out-of-copyright art [Eldred.] Uncopyrightable art [US and UK government work.] –“Capitalization” of information.

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh EU two-tier database directive Databases manifesting intellectual creation receive full copyright protection (life or 95 years). Data bases that represent capital investment without authorship receive 15-year protection. (Rolling?) Reciprocity issues are an on-going tension. For instance, France developed a payment machinery for CD/DVDs, but withheld it from countries that did not accord equivalent rights to French copyrights.

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 8 Feist vs. Rural Telephone US Supreme Court, Facts are not copyrightable. Supercedes “sweat of the brow” as a metric of original art [Brandeis].

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 9 A database cannot ipso-facto be protected. But (surely) its content can be (unless it cannot be). No market will receive a data base unless it includes provenance. “….bathroom walls” [Alan J. Perlis]. That provenance may be copyrightable, and artful provenance will afford protection to a database. A proposed alternative for EU and USA

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 10 This group has a role to play. Let us present the EU parliament with an alternative. Save our developing technology from shackles that use IP law selfishly to protect traditional practice. –DMCA restrictions on DVDs and CDs. –Misuse of our technology: Celine-Dion CD crypto died in a week. Use extant copyright law (which is understood) to protect art---curatorial art.

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 11 Get organized U.S. Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery. USacm. EUacm? We folks!

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 12 ACM built a data base!!

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 13 USacm has opposed database copyright.

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 14 USacm has opposed database copyright.

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 15 ACM SIGMOD

Provenance and Annotation, Edinburgh 16 Contacts for Europeans to pursue. U.S. Public Policy: Arnie Rosenthal, Mitre: Who’s to publish our report? One another. Me: