Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000

Chapter 6

Qualification: Databases

Qualification for database right.

326.—(1) Subject to Chapter 2 of this Part, the database right shall subsist in a database where, at the material time, its maker or, where it was made jointly, one or more of its makers, is—

(a) a citizen or subject of, or other individual domiciled or ordinarily resident in, a Member State of the EEA,

(b) a body incorporated under the law of a Member State of the EEA and which at the material time satisfied one of the conditions specified in subsection (3), or

(c) a partnership or unincorporated body formed under the law of a Member State of the EEA and which at the material time satisfied the condition specified in subsection (3)(a).

(2) The database right shall subsist in a database the maker of which is deemed to be the Government, or either or both of the Houses of the Oireachtas, or a prescribed international organisation, in accordance with section 322 .

(3) The conditions referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (1) are—

(a) that the body has its principal place of business or operations within a Member State of the EEA,

(b) that the body has its registered office within a Member State of the EEA and operates in a Member State of the EEA, and

(c) that the body has a genuine link with the economy of the State.

(4) The Government may by order extend the provisions of this section to countries, territories, states or areas outside the Member States of the EEA, where the order is made pursuant to or in conformity with an agreement of the Council of the European Communities allowing such an extension of protection on the basis that comparable protection of databases is available under the law of those countries, territories, states or areas.

(5) For the purposes of this section, the material time in relation to a database shall be—

(a) in the case of a database which has not been lawfully re-utilised when the database was made or, where the making of the database extended over a period, a substantial part of that period, or

(b) in the case of a database which has been lawfully re-utilised when the database was first lawfully re-utilised or, where the maker had died before that time, immediately before his or her death.