Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 9 October 2008 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof, Germany) — Directmedia Publishing GmbH v Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

(Case C-304/07) (1)

(Directive 96/9/EC - Legal protection of databases - Sui generis right - Concept of ‘extraction’ of the contents of a database)

(2008/C 301/17)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Directmedia Publishing GmbH

Defendant: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg

Re:

Preliminary ruling — Bundesgerichtshof — Interpretation of Article 7(2)(a) of Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases (OJ 1996 L 77, p. 20) — Adoption of data from a protected database and their incorporation in a different database on the basis of individual assessments following a close examination of those data, without any copying being carried out — Whether such a data adoption and incorporation operation constitutes ‘extraction’ within the meaning of Directive 96/9/EC

Operative part of the judgment

The transfer of material from a protected database to another database following an on-screen consultation of the first database and an individual assessment of the material contained in that first database is capable of constituting an ‘extraction’, within the meaning of Article 7 of Directive 96/9 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of databases, to the extent that — which it is for the referring court to ascertain — that operation amounts to the transfer of a substantial part, evaluated qualitatively or quantitatively, of the contents of the protected database, or to transfers of insubstantial parts which, by their repeated or systematic nature, would have resulted in the reconstruction of a substantial part of those contents.

(1)  OJ C 211, 8.9.2007.