Electronic Agents and the Legal Protection of Non-creative Databases
H. G. Ruse · International Journal of Law and Information Technology · 2001
One of the most important application of electronic agents in the Internet environment is their ability to automatically browse and index web sites in the context of search engines. This activity, though, may give rise to several interesting intellectual property issues. In the European Union, the Database Directive of 1996 has introduced a new form of intellectual property protection for databases which – when applied to the search engine scenario – can provide for interesting results and for new means of tackling the misappropriation of one's efforts in the digital economy.