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Yes but it doesn't prevent you to build your the exact same copy as long as you don't use the other DB as a source. Scraping the info yourself is perfectly fine

Yes but it doesn't prevent you to build your the exact same copy as long as you don't use the other DB as a source. Scraping the info yourself is perfectly fine. That's also the reason why people add "mistakes" to their DB as a kind of watermark.

jahewson 4y ago
But they are (unwittingly) using the other DB as a source. The data they're scraping turns out not to have been created by the supermarkets in question but sourced from a third party database and published under license on the supermarket websites.
- bencollier49 4y ago
  Which raises a very interesting legal question: If the data is recompiled, despite having come from another source via an intermediary (who are using that data to describe the products they are selling), is it still subject to the database rights? How about we try out a reductio ad absurdam: I'm going to start a startup. Our business model is to license the information on customers' websites, and then license it back to them in turn. This then means that anyone who uses our services in the UK can sue for copyright on lists of facts obtained by screen scrapers, as they've been through our database copyright washer. Think flight prices, hotels, cars, anything. Is that a viable business model? If not, why not?
  - yobbo 4y ago
    > is it still subject to the database rights Someone is creating a phone book as a service to companies. Elsewhere, these companies are publishing their phone numbers to get more customers. Then the phone book creators demand license fees anywhere these phone numbers appear in lists. It's very dubious "database rights" come into play at all.
    - bencollier49 4y ago
      That's a better demonstration of the principle than I managed, actually. It does seem faintly absurd, unless there's something else involved.
wewxjfq 4y ago
That's like saying you can write a word for word copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as long as you don't use the book as the source.
- dboreham 4y ago
  Enough monkeys and enough time..
- mahkeiro 4y ago
  No because Harry Potter is not a collection of facts. Price of goods are.

jahewson 4y ago

But they are (unwittingly) using the other DB as a source. The data they're scraping turns out not to have been created by the supermarkets in question but sourced from a third party database and published under license on the supermarket websites.

bencollier49 4y ago
Which raises a very interesting legal question: If the data is recompiled, despite having come from another source via an intermediary (who are using that data to describe the products they are selling), is it still subject to the database rights? How about we try out a reductio ad absurdam: I'm going to start a startup. Our business model is to license the information on customers' websites, and then license it back to them in turn. This then means that anyone who uses our services in the UK can sue for copyright on lists of facts obtained by screen scrapers, as they've been through our database copyright washer. Think flight prices, hotels, cars, anything. Is that a viable business model? If not, why not?
- yobbo 4y ago
  > is it still subject to the database rights Someone is creating a phone book as a service to companies. Elsewhere, these companies are publishing their phone numbers to get more customers. Then the phone book creators demand license fees anywhere these phone numbers appear in lists. It's very dubious "database rights" come into play at all.
  - bencollier49 4y ago
    That's a better demonstration of the principle than I managed, actually. It does seem faintly absurd, unless there's something else involved.

wewxjfq 4y ago

That's like saying you can write a word for word copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as long as you don't use the book as the source.

dboreham 4y ago
Enough monkeys and enough time..
mahkeiro 4y ago
No because Harry Potter is not a collection of facts. Price of goods are.