A Study on the Legal Protection of Science and Technology Databases on the Copyright Law and Online Digital Contents Industry Development Law

Currently the copyright law and the online digital contents industry development law aim to protect the producers of databases and digital contents. A report on databases in the United States describes that an additional protection of databases is needed as databases get more significant in terms of science and economy and become a key factor on Internet. At this moment, Korea does not recognize the importance of databases of science and technology when we look into any public or civil organizations. Accordingly this paper deals in depth with overall issues surrounding the regal protection of science and technology databases, key contents for science and technology databases protection by current laws, and additional protection problems. Considering that the industry of science and technology databases plays a pivotal role in the securement of national competitiveness, the preparation of legal measures to properly protect databases as one of the policies for the continuing development of databases should not be overlooked.