Are databases intellectual property?

Browsing around waiting for something exiting to happen I came across an article on slashdot regarding a bill which was passed by the House Judiciary committee H.R.3261.

Maybe im missing something, but what’s wrong with this bill?

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.3261:

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(a) LIABILITY- Any person who makes available in commerce to others a quantitatively substantial part of the information in a database generated, gathered, or maintained by another person, knowing that such making available in commerce is without the authorization of that person (including a successor in interest) or that person's licensee, when acting within the scope of its license, shall be liable for the remedies set forth in section 7 if--

(1) the database was generated, gathered, or maintained through a substantial expenditure of financial resources or time;

(2) the unauthorized making available in commerce occurs in a time sensitive manner and inflicts injury on the database or a product or service offering access to multiple databases; and

(3) the ability of other parties to free ride on the efforts of the plaintiff would so reduce the incentive to produce the product or service that its existence or quality would be substantially threatened.

(b) INJURY- For purposes of subsection (a), the term `inflicts an injury' means serving as a functional equivalent in the same market as the database in a manner that causes the displacement, or the disruption of the sources, of sales, licenses, advertising, or other revenue.

(c) TIME SENSITIVE- In determining whether an unauthorized making available in commerce occurs in a time sensitive manner, the court shall consider the temporal value of the information in the database, within the context of the industry sector involved.

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One would think these things were already protected by law but it seems that if someone has their data stolen they must sue for damages. This makes it a crime punishable by law,

yahoo, att, google and a bunch if others are lobbying against it. Their saying this overturns a previous ruling stating that facts can not be copywritten.

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-5145040.html

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news...le.php/3302931


Whats up with that?

Oh! BTW this protection does not extend to .gov databases

Let's see, You go out and discover some information by doing legitimate research.
Some "owner" of a database claims you are a criminal because your info is in their
database. And the irony is that a lot of the stuff in that database may be personal
and private information about "consumers" who never gave anyone permission
to put their data into a database in the first place.
:cool:

but wouldn't the reverse of that also be true and more relavant. Lets say i have a large corporation, someone steals my employee or customer data base and adds it into their "marketing reasearch" data base. this would now allow me to press charges instead of spending allot of money on suing. this law also considers the designing of the database intellectual property just as anyone elses 'works' of art are. Even going along with your version. if i spend two years searching for and collecting information on people what makes it right for someone else to come along and take and use it. if its accessable let them get it themselves and spend their own time and money.

i feel that those protesting this act are the ones that gather information for marketing and don't want to loose their free ride

If they could prove that you hacked their server and literally
stole their files, yeah, that's a crime. But just because you have the same
information, it doesn't mean you stole it from them.

If they think you've stolen thier data just because your database looks
"suspiciously" similar to theirs, let them sue in the civil courts.

Knowledge is power. In the next century, nations will go to war for it,
just as they used to go to war for land. I wish people had more of a
sense of humor.
:cool:

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Knowledge is power. In the next century, nations will go to war for it,
just as they used to go to war for land. I wish people had more of a
sense of humor.
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oh i dont know....thats kind of amusing!

seriously though im neither for or against this bill. just wanted to find out what all the hub-bub was.

database info is going to be the next battlefield but I don't see nations going to war over it.

Maybe companies already are.

Isn't it already common for enemies to digitally attack each other during times of conflict?

Quote:

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database info is going to be the next battlefield but I don't see nations going to war over it.

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Not a physical war.