Recent developments in copyright, database protection and (online) licensing
S Lai · International Journal of Law and Information Technology · 1999
This paper assesses the developments in the areas of copyright, database, and electronic commerce initiatives regulating the formation and validity of on-line licences. The provisions of the WIPO copyright treaty are scrutinised, with particular reference to anti-circumvention legislation and rights management information, as well as introduction of an obligatory exception to the reproduction by the recent draft EU Treaty-implementing directive. The salient features of the EU model for sui generis database production are also raised, in comparison with the latest US initiatives on the regulation of database content, with the accompanying observation that international harmonisation of database protection is moving steadily away from realisation. The paper concludes with a discussion of the formation and validity of on-line licences, highlighting the features of the latest initiatives by the UN and the EU, and the enhanced role of the implied licence in respect of online usage.