NL Patent Office

Database rights

Databases can be protected by means of a database right and by means of copyright.

The database right protects the producer of the database against retrieval or reuse of a substantial part of the database. This right also prohibits the milking of a database. To obtain protection, a substantial investment must be made to build the database.

The exclusive right accrues to the producer; the party who has made the investment in order to create the database and therefore has taken the financial risk (often the client). Protection is given in no set form, and the database is protected for up to fifteen years after production. The fifteen years can be renewed if an existing database is substantially changed in a qualitative or quantitative sense.

Relation to copyright
If the database has an original structure, this structure is protected by copyright. In that case, the structure is a work that enjoys copyright protection.