CPI Sui Generis Database Right, Producer's Right to Prohibit Extraction and Reutilization
Code de la propriete intellectuelle art. L341-1 a L343-7 (Titre IV, Droits des producteurs de bases de donnees), created by loi n. 98-536 du 1er juillet 1998, transposing Directive 96/9/CE
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 1 January 1998.
A database right rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not extract or reutilize a qualitatively or quantitatively substantial part of a French database's content without the producer's authorization, where the producer shows a substantial investment in constituting, verifying, or presenting that content.
- Repeated or systematic extraction or reutilization of insubstantial parts can still infringe where it amounts, in its cumulative effect, to extracting or reutilizing a substantial part.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionYes
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
A database producer, understood as the person who takes the initiative and the risk of the corresponding investment, holds protection over the database's content where the constitution, verification, or presentation of that content shows a substantial financial, material, or human investment, under Article L341-1.
Article L342-1 lets the producer prohibit extraction, by permanent or temporary transfer of all or a qualitatively or quantitatively substantial part of the database's content onto another medium, and reutilization, by making that content available to the public, whatever the means. The right is independent of any copyright or other right in the database's contents or structure.
Article L343-1 lets a rightholder prove an infringement by any means, including a bailiff's seizure (saisie-contrefacon) with a court-appointed expert.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official consolidated Code de la propriete intellectuelle text, Legifrance (read through an archived capture of the official page
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