Legal Protection of Sui Generis Databases

It is undeniable that databases are an essential building block of the Information Society. Today, every business in developed countries operates fully based upon clientele databases, economic statistics, and industries profiles; and innovation and invention rely heavily on collections of facts, data and information that scientists discovered in research and development or exchanged among them. Legislatures have envisaged a need and significance of the free flow of access to information, thereby prescribing copyright protection only to creative selection and arrangement of the contents of databases, not the factual contents contained within. However, the advent of technology avails unconventional methods of copying, altering, and recompiling to manipulate the contents of databases. Anyone can make use of technology, gather information, recompile them, and take this opportunity to enter into market, being possessed by original players and creating unfair competition. Original database makers, therefore, are suffering from losses in investment and crying for a legal solution, giving rise to possible intellectual property right of sui generis databases or a right of its own kind. Throughout history, it is clear that copyright extends only to the creative or expressive contents, not the underlying facts, data, or information. Although there were battles between publishers or authors, copyright law meant to reward creative genius rather than contribution of finance or pure labor. Over centuries, its rationale remained unchanged, promoting a proper balance of author\u27s incentive to complement creativity cycle and the public\u27s free and open access to information to keep the market place of ideas intact. For the protection of collections and compilations, Article 2(5) of the Berne Convention makes clear that it extends only to the creative elements of the selection and arrangement of the contents. However, it is insufficient for database industries who have contributed capitals and entrepreneurial efforts in the making of databases. To maximize profit, lobbyists from database industries have urged their governments to recognize a property right in the compiled facts and information resulted from entrepreneurial effort alone. This endeavor has reached not only national level, but also international. Such concept of protection, thus, opposes the principle of the free flow of access to information that copyright law has promoted. The scientists and those, who are in the educational field, express concern that such regime impedes the free flow of access to facts, data, and information by increasing a cost to access them. Developing and least developed countries worry about negative impacts of sui generis protection on their socio-economic infrastructure, particularly human resources development, not only because of an increasing cost to access, but a fear of losing their traditional knowledge, such as collections of undeveloped medical plants and compilations of unimproved medical treatments. A justifiable intellectual property right in sui generis databases, if any, must be considered and based upon the concept to achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedom for all in the global society to benefit from the progress of science and the use of arts and literatures

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow--Is Global Climate Change Another White Man’s Trick to Get Indian Land? The Role of Treaties in Protecting Tribes as They Adapt to Climate Change

Indian Tribes are at the tip of the spear when it comes to climate change. Their dependence on their homelands for subsistence and cultural sustenance has made them vulnerable to climate-driven changes like sea level rise, shoreline erosion, and drought. As climate change makes their land less suitable for the animals and plants they depend on, tribes are facing increasing pressure to move to survive. Complicating any such move is its effect on tribal treaties that grant tribes sovereignty over their traditional land and their members. If tribes are forced to sever themselves from their homelands, will that affect their sovereignty; can their treaties migrate with them as they move to new land; where can tribes move to that will enable them to survive as distinct political sub-units in our federal system of government; and will these treaties make their assimilation into any new community impossible? This Article looks at these and many other questions in an attempt to understand how climate change may affect tribes as we know them today and begins to answer some of them. However, there are too many questions to answer in a single article. Therefore, this Article’s major contributions are identifying the problem and related questions and then proposing an analytical framework that separates legal from moral questions, and practical from constitutive ones, and contextualizes these questions in a rapidly changing physical world. Developing and applying this framework may help identify which institutions should try and answer the various questions raised in the Article, what tools they might be expected to use, and in what order the questions should be addressed

New Spaces: Safeguarding Students from Violence and Hate

Full report of the HEFCE Catalyst funded projectSexual assault, harassment, violence and hate crime on university campuses is a prevalent and pressing concern. A recent Universities UK taskforce report recommended that urgent action in this area is needed. Universities are significant sites for implementing a joined-up approach and tackling these issues. As a campus of Changemakers, students, inter-disciplinary researchers, professional and support staff at The University of Northampton decided to take action to address these significant and important issues, in particular within the context of a major campus move to a town centre location. As one of only 60 institutions across the country to be awarded funding from HEFCE’s Catalyst fund, this ‘New Spaces: Safeguarding Students from Violence and Hate’ cross collaborative project aimed to create vital partnerships in tackling sexual violence and hate crime on campus. The aims of the project were to evaluate existing policies and develop a student-led collaborative approach to identify what currently happens when disclosures are made; staff and student perceptions, knowledge and experiences within the campus transition; as well as providing recommendations for new institutional policies, strategies and recommendations to support students in reporting harassment, sexual abuse, sexual violence and hate crime. This project also contributes to HEFCE’s wider work in creating guidelines and recommendations for HEIs for addressing these issues. A survey of the published literature, as well as an evaluation of existing processes and policies at The University of Northampton were carried out within this project. Data collection involved 2 Staff and 2 student focus groups, as well as 11 interviews with members of the university management team. These were conducted to discuss staff and student experiences, what support was in place for disclosures and recommendations for future practice within the transition to the new campus. One of the student focus groups utilised photo-elicitation methods to allow students to visually conceptualise and create a new, safe campus space. Recommendations are provided for understanding the prevalence of these issues within a campus context; tackle normative beliefs which may influence how they are perceived; increasing knowledge and awareness of sexual violence and hate crime; implementing mechanisms for disclosure and reporting; addressing issues related to security measures and procedures; enhancing partnership working within the local community. These recommendations have local impact and are being used to inform institutional policies and procedures at The University. Project findings are also being implemented into HEFCE’s wider work and national action around these issues. Internationally, the dissemination of these findings is contributing to the limited research in this area

From war to the rule of law: peace building after violent conflicts

As recent events in Iraq demonstrate, countries that have suffered civil war or rule by military regime can face a long, difficult transition to peaceful democracy. Drawing on the experiences of Bosnia, Haiti, Rwanda and Afghanistan, this outstanding volume demonstrates that newly emerging democracies need more than emergency economic support: restoring the rule of law can involve the training of a new police force, for example, or the creation of an international war crimes tribunal. Concluding with specific recommendations for the UN and EU members,Voorhoeve reminds us that disregard for human rights or delay in civilian reconciliation can lead to resurgences of violence