随着整个世界向数字化方向发展，数据和信息越来越与政府活动、新产业和产品的培育以及社会的文化和科学发展密切相关。因此，不管是作为活动的主要目的还是伴随而来的副产品，创建数据库都是一项宝贵的努力，也是投入不同资源的成果。对收集这种数据的保护需要我们在投资者的利益和扩散信息获取渠道的需求之间保持谨慎的平衡。传统上，数据库作为数据库作品本身或特殊类型的作品受到版权法的保护。然而，用户习惯和行业惯例使得数据库的原创性不断降低，难以获得版权的保护。数据库制造商通过不同的方式来保护其投资：合同法，反不正当竞争法，在欧洲，还有独特的特殊权利。因为中国互联网行业的空前发展，学者和法院越来越对数据保护感兴趣，对数据库保护进行了全面检查。中国法律目前主要通过反不正当竞争法和著作权法来减轻对收集数据的权利的侵害。法官可以根据个案来界定作者受到侵犯的权利，并判定竞争对手的行为是否可以被视为不公平竞争，这种处理方式因而带有法律上的不确定性。仅通过特殊权利、版权保护或反不正当竞争法，并不能实现互联网经济模式所要求的灵活性和确定性。本文提出了保护数据库的观点，在维持著作权法现有的权利义务相平衡的同时，展现法律的跨学科特征。在拆封合同，强制登记制度，甚至价格歧视等方面，法官可以将合同法与反不正当竞争法、滥用原则结合起来，根据个案调整救济侵权行为，从而增强法律保护的效力。中国人民共和国最高人民法院关于数据库和数据保护的指导性案例和司法解释，将为快节奏的互联网经济提供法律保障。
As the world is transitioning towards a more digital environment, data and information has become increasingly relevant to the activities of the government, to the fostering of new industries and products, and to cultural and scientific development of society. The creation of a database, either as a product or byproduct of the main activity, is thus a valuable endeavor and the fruit of the investment of different resources. Protection of such data collection strives for a careful balance between the interests of the investors and the need to diffuse access to information. Databases are protected classically through copyright law, either as a work in their own right or as a special type of collection. However, user habits and industry conventions have increasingly reduced the amount of originality in databases to the result that very few qualify for copyright. The interest of database makers in protecting their investment is carried out through different means: contract law, anti-unfair competition law and, in Europe, a special sui generis right.The unprecedented development of the Internet industry in China has led scholars and courts become more interested in data protection and consequently in overhauling database protection. Chinese law currently offers relief against infraction of the rights in data collection mostly through copyright and, predominantly through anti-unfair competition law. Such approach is marked by legal uncertainty as it empowers the judge in determining on a case-by-case basis what are the rights of the authors that have been infringed and whether the competitors conduct can be considered unfair competition.The flexibility and certainty required by the framework of the Internet economy cannot be achieved through sui generis rights, copyright protection, or anti-unfair competition law alone. This paper proposes the adoption of an approach to database protection that while keeping the balance of rights and obligations present in copyright takes advantage of the interdisciplinary character of the law. Combining contract law – through shrinkwrap contracts, compulsory licensing system or even price discrimination, anti-unfair competition law, and doctrine of misappropriation allows judges to “tailor” the remedies to infringement to the circumstances of the case enhancing the efficacy of legal protection. The overhauling of the system of guiding cases and issuing of a Judicial Interpretation by the Supreme People’s Court concerning database and data protection shall provide the legal certainty needed in the fast-paced economic framework of the internet.
