When the database was built by a supplier: what to do first
When a supplier builds your database, ownership does not pass to you automatically. The sui generis right created under EU law protects the party that made the substantial investment in obtaining, verifying, or presenting the data — often the supplier itself. Check the contract first: assignment or licence clauses decide who can use, sell, or block access to the database.
What the law protects
Databases are protected at EU level in two separate layers. Directive 96/9/EC creates a sui generis right for the maker of a database who shows substantial investment in obtaining, verifying, or presenting its contents. Where the database also embeds software — a query engine, an indexing script — that code falls under Directive 2009/24/EC, which protects computer programs as literary works.
The two rights can sit with different people even inside one project. A supplier can hold the sui generis right over the dataset while the client owns the surrounding application code, or the reverse, depending entirely on what the contract says.
What changes for you
For a client, this means the supplier who built the database may hold the sui generis right by default, regardless of who paid the invoice. Unless the contract assigns that right or grants an exclusive licence, using your own data can require the supplier's consent to extract or reuse a substantial part of the contents. Structure and content sit under different clocks, and a gap in one clause creates a dependency the client did not plan for.
What to do first
- Legal team: pull the supplier contract and read the assignment or licence clause on database rights specifically, not only on general intellectual property.
- Project owner: document who defined the schema, who paid for data collection, and who instructed the supplier on presentation of the contents.
- IT lead: confirm whether an embedded software component was delivered separately, and check whether that component carries its own licence.
- Legal team: if the contract is silent, request a written assignment or exclusive licence from the supplier before the relationship changes or ends.
- Records owner: preserve invoices, specifications, and correspondence that evidence investment — this is the evidence a court will ask for first.
Who decides
A national court decides ownership disputes over a database, applying the law chosen in the contract or, absent a choice, the law of the country where the database was created or is used commercially. The court weighs the contract text first, then evidence of who financed obtaining, verifying, or presenting the contents. Investment evidence, not authorship of the underlying code, usually carries the case.
Common forks
| Situation | Where the right is likely to sit |
|---|---|
| Contract assigns "all intellectual property" without naming database rights specifically | Ambiguous — the sui generis right may remain with the supplier by default |
| Supplier subcontracted the build to a third party | Investment and instructions to the subcontractor become the decisive evidence |
| Database hosted on the supplier's own infrastructure | Access and extraction depend on the licence terms, not on ownership of the right alone |
If your contract names intellectual property generically without listing database rights, treat the clause as unresolved and seek written clarification before the supplier relationship ends. If the supplier used its own subcontractor to build the structure, ask for the chain of assignments down to that subcontractor — a missing link breaks the chain for everyone above it. If the data lives on infrastructure the supplier controls, agree extraction and export terms in writing regardless of who holds the underlying right.
Two adjacent situations often surface at the same time. If the supplier sells through resellers, check whether reseller terms affect who can assign or license the database — see A reseller signs terms you never saw technology contract.
If the resulting product is offered in several countries at once, an unresolved ownership question can turn into a compliance question — see When the offer targets several countries in detail.
Sources and limit
This page does not establish which national registry record applies to your specific supplier relationship, and it does not calculate what a dispute would cost to run.
For a jurisdiction-specific factual check, see Asset in Austria: what can be established.
Where enforcement is already a live risk on the other side of the relationship, Debtor report before starting enforcement step by step covers the sequence before any filing.
Related publications
A related supplier situation appears when the party building something similar was previously your own staff: When a former employee launches a similar product in walks through the mirror-image dispute.
FAQ
What is the first step when the database was built by a supplier?
Read the supplier contract for a database-specific assignment or licence clause, not only for a general intellectual property assignment. General wording rarely covers the sui generis right created by Directive 96/9/EC, and a missing reference leaves that right with the maker by default.
Which deadline is already running?
Once a dispute over use or extraction becomes apparent, a limitation period for bringing a claim starts running under the law that governs the contract. Its exact length depends on that governing law and on when the parties became aware of the conflict, so the clock should be checked as soon as the disagreement surfaces, not once litigation looks likely.
Who decides, and on what evidence?
A national court decides, weighing the contract terms first and then evidence of who financed obtaining, verifying, or presenting the data. Invoices, specifications, and instructions to the supplier typically carry more weight than who wrote the underlying code.
Verified
Checked on 5 June 2025. Primary sources: Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases, and Directive 2009/24/EC on the legal protection of computer programs, both as consolidated on EUR-Lex.
If you want a first read on your contract, a partner responds within minutes during business hours; a fee estimate follows within one working day.