A database right is considered to be a property right, comparable to but distinct from copyright, that exists to recognise the investment that is made in compiling a database, even when this does not involve the 'creative' aspect that is reflected by copyright.
On 11 March 1996 the Council of the European Union passed Directive No. 96/9/EC of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases, giving specific and separate legal rights (and limitations) to certain computer records. The law calls these database rights.
Rights afforded to manual records under EU database rights laws are similar in format, but not identical, to those afforded artistic works.
Database rights last for 15 years. Each time a database is substantially modified, however, a new set of rights are created for that database. An owner has the right to object to the copying of substantial parts of their database, even if data is extracted and reconstructed piecemeal. Database rights under the EU are created automatically, vested in the employers of creators (when the action of creation was part of employment), and do not have to be registered to have effect.
Database rights are independent of copyright: The arrangement, selection, and presentation of the data may be protected by copyright, while the database as a whole can be protected by database right.
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