Advert tracking company Inquiry Management Systems (IMS) sued competitor Berkshire Information Systems after Berkshire allegedly downloaded almost 85% of the database on the IMS web site.
IMS based its suit partly upon a provision in the DMCA that prohibits the circumvention of security systems that protect copyrighted material – an argument that could have increased the protection offered to database holders if it had been upheld.
However, last week Judge Naomi Buchwald ruled that:
"Whatever the impropriety of defendant's conduct, the DMCA and the anti-circumvention provision at issue do not target this sort of activity."
Judge Buchwald allowed the case to proceed under a provision in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that allows action where a computer connected to the internet is accessed "without authorisation," according to CNET.
Database owners are seeking to strengthen the copyright protection offered to them under US law, with the latest attempt, the draft Database and Collections of Information Misappropriation Act, currently working its way through various Committees of the House of Representatives.
Europe already offers strong protection for databases beyond that provided by more general copyright laws. In 1996, the European Parliament passed the Directive on the legal protection of databases. Since that time, the US has debated its need for an equivalent law.