Downloading, information filtering and copyright

Abstract

Downloading and information filtering are prerequisites for efficient use of electronic documents available in databases or on the Internet/World Wide Web. Taking full advantage of electronic text collections requires a proper legal framework. Under present copyright law, electronic copying is subject to prior consent from the copyright owner, with due regard to fair use exceptions. This approach is followed by the European Union in its Database Protection Directive. The Directive leaves important questions concerning the fair use doctrine, compulsory licences, and non‐copyright ('copyleft') to be resolved by national implementation as well as contractual arrangements between publishers and authors. The concepts of substantial extraction and reutilization are also left unclarified. In my view, the balancing of interests that these issues require should be done by legislators working within the realm of copyright law. The legal framework should distinguish among cases of non‐copyrightable materials (especially statutes, regulations, court decisions), ‘normal’ copyright and copyright with encryption ('strict copyright'). The Directive's strong emphasis on direct revenues from users to copyright owners should be supplemented by compulsory licences. Unrestricted access to information adds enormous value to database use and would result in more revenue for the authors and makers of databases. If the public's interest in access to information is deemed paramount to private copyright, government should intervene to secure sufficient revenues for the copyright owners.