On Wednesday 2nd of March at 1500 CET we will host the first COMMUNIA Salon of 2022. This edition will focus on the treatment of the Sui Generis Database Right (SGDR) in the European Commission’s proposal for a Data Act that was published on the 23rd of February. The proposal contains a provision that the Sui Generis Database Right “does not apply to databases containing data obtained from or generated by the use of a connected device”.
This limitation of the scope SGDR — welcome as it is — falls way short of a proper review of the Sui Generis Database right that was supposed to be part of the Data Act proposal. We have long been critical of this this ill-fated right and have calls for its revocation. In this light the proposed Data Act is another missed opportunity to correct the mistake that the EU made when it introduced the SGDR as part of the 1996 Database Directive.
With this salon we will explore the future of the Sui Generis Database Right and how this right should evolve in the context of the proposed Data Act. For this edition we will be joined among others by Krzysztof Nichczynski (DG Connect, European Commission) who will present the European Commission’s rationale for the Data Act, Martin Husovec (Assistant Professor of Law at LSE) who will elaborate on the legal context and Felix Reda (former MEP & Project Lead control © at GFF) who will discuss an ongoing German lawsuit in which Open Data activists are facing government prosecution for allegedly infringing the Sui Generis Database Right.
As always, the COMMUNIA Salon is open for everyone to attend. To attend the Salon please register here.
