Newsletter
NO PLATE RIGHTS IN ELEC-TRONIC DATABASES OF AN-CIENT WORKS
With respect to a textual or artistic work in which no economic rights exist, or in which the eco-nomic rights have extinguished, the Copyright Act provides that if a plate maker arranges and prints the textual work, or reproduces the original artistic work by photocopying, printing or simi-lar means, and registers such printing or publi-cation in accordance with the Act, the plate maker has an exclusive right to reproduce the matter so printed, by photocopying, printing or similar means. Plate rights are a special feature of the Copyright Act, and are intended to protect investments in the reproduction of ancient works and artifacts that are not the subject of normal copyright, in order to encourage the continued publication and appreciation of ancient works.
However, the Intellectual Property Office re-cently stated that when ancient books and graphic works are converted into electronic data and stored in an electronic database, such a da-tabase cannot be made the subject of plate rights, because the preparation of an electronic database differs from the act of reproducing works by "arranging and printing" or similar means as re-ferred to in the Copyright Act. Therefore no such plate rights can be registered.