But for a business whose carefully crafted product is a database, the Web has a couple of trouble spots. Another is the lack of legal recourse for Web publishers whose data is copied. As we speak, indignant legislators all over the world are trying to change that. But they have tried before and failed. Like most information these days, this is published on a Web site that has a click-wrap license prohibiting republication by the customer.
Software is copyrighted.
But in the case of many databases, the information in the database is not copyrightable. Where a database is solely a compilation of facts, as in the case of stock ticker information, the compilation as a whole can sometimes be copyrighted but only if the compiler exercises some modicum of creativity in the selection or arrangement of the facts. A database, for example, of the 100 Most Company-Friendly Venture Capitalists arranged in order of friendliness, would pass the legal test for creativity. But even in those cases, the facts themselves are still uncopyrightable. Users can copy them, republish them or wallpaper their kitchen with them as long as no substantial portion of the creative compilation is copied.