A database is an organized collection of structured information, or data, typically stored electronically in a computer system. A database is mostly manipulated and accessed by a database management system (DBMS). Both, the data and the DBMS, along with the applications that are attached with them, are known as a database system, commonly referred to as ‘database’.
Legal Definition of Database
There is no precise definition given under The Indian Copyright Act of the term Database. Under the Copyright Act, ‘Computer database’ is included in the definition of literary work’. A database is ‘original’ merely by reason of the fact that the author has invested time, money, labour or skill in its creation.
According to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (United Kingdom) a database is a collection of independent works, data or other materials which are arranged in a systematic and methodological way and are individually accessible by electronic or other means.
The database is also defined in Article 1(2) of the European Union Directive on Legal Protection of Database as a collection of independent works, data or other materials arranged in a systematic or methodological way and capable of being individually accessed by electronic or other means.
According to the U.S Copyright Office “in the terminology of copyright law, a database is a compilation of a work formed by the collection and assembling of pre-existing materials or of data”.
Importance of Database
Protection & Regulation Data security is an important aspect of running a business successfully as it gives customers the assurance that their data is being collected, processed, and transferred securely. Therefore, data is important for businesses of all sizes, from a small startup to a global conglomerate.
However, businesses ought to implement database privacy principle that adheres to international privacy laws and data protection necessities. this is often why most organizations that administer strict privacy laws social control get a reduced range of knowledge breaches.
According to TechTarget, data security and privacy are part of information technology dealing with an individual’s ability to determine the data in a system that can be shared with third parties. Furthermore, it helps organizations protect data in the office and in the employees’ hands while reducing the vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit. an organization
The major difference between data security and data privacy is that although data security and data privacy look similar, they are quite different from each other. Data security deals with the protection of data from cybercriminals, while data privacy deals with how data organizations or individuals legally gather, store, and use data.
Databases are useful collections of materials that consequently have value independently of their several items of content. They are often creative, and usually costly to compile, present and maintain. In the information society, they are of increasing economic significance.
Legal Issues in Databases
There square measure 2 kinds of protection for databases that arise totally different (in several in numerous) circumstances and supply different kinds of protection.
Information that falls among the definition on top of is also protected:
As a copyrighted work – this is often literary copyright protection for ‘the intellectual creation concerned within the choice and arrangement of materials. that’s those databases that meet the need for ‘creativity of the work and square measure referred to as ‘creative databases’. information_ copyright protects the structure of information and not the contents and protects the recorded variety of the information.
By a separate database right – this is often single protection for ‘an investment (in human and technical resources and energy and energy) within the getting, verification or presentation of the contents of the databases’. while such databases might not be inventive, they need a quantitatively or qualitatively substantial investment in terms of resources and/or time spent and area unit so protected and referred to as ‘non- creative’ databases. In some countries, like within the USA, there’s no correct legal protection for non-creative databases. in contrast to database copyright, the separate database right protects the contents of a database. This restricts the extraction or re-utilization of the total or a considerable part of the contents while not the owner’s permission.
Both as a literary copyright work and by a separate database
