[Talk-GB] OSM leaving the UK?

[Mark Goodge]

On 01/07/2021 02:13, Jbrsk B wrote:
> The email thread on OSMF-Talk on which that article is based can be
> read in the archive, starting here: 
> https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2021-June/007860.html
> <https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/osmf-talk/2021-June/007860.html>
>
>  And if like me you don't know what "sui generis" means for the
> database legislation, my interpretation from a quick search is
> "special."

"Sui generis" is a Latin phrase meaning "in a class of its own". In the 
legal context, it usually means something that is treated as a 
standalone entity rather than being part of a wider category along with 
other, similar things. It's a common concept in planning law in the UK, 
whereby developments that don't fit into the standard A1, B2, etc 
classes are described as sui generis.

As far as intellectual property is concerned, database rights are 
consider sui generis because they do not fall into any of the general 
classes of IP, such as copyright, trade marks, patents and design right.

Unlike the main forms of IP, which are globally applicable and, as a 
result of various treaties, broadly interoperable, sui generis rights 
tend to be very much jurisdiction specific and, even where they exist in 
multiple jurisdictions, are not necessarily interoperable between them - 
something protected under a sui generis right in one place may not be 
protected under the equivalent legislation elsewhere.

Database right is one such. It's not particularly widely protected at 
all, but the EU and the UK are two of the jurisdictions that do 
recognise it. However, neither jurisdiction recognises foreign database 
right, meaning that EU databases are not protected in the UK and UK 
databases are not protected in the EU.

Mark