LA TITULARIDAD Y LA PROTECCIÓN DE LOS DENOMINADOS «ARCHIVOS DE DOMINIO Y CARGAS VIGENTES», EXISTENTES EN LOS REGISTROS DE LA PROPIEDAD.

Abstract

Property registries have at present what are known as «ownership and current charge records». These records do not merely parrot the information set down in the registration books concerning each property. Rather, the registration information is put through a datacleansing process such that, through study and analysis, detailed information is obtained concerning the present, legally valid situation of the ownership of and charges on the properties in question. This paper, then, analyses the possible classification of these records as databases. After showing that the records have all the characteristics needed in order to be classified as databases, the paper analyses the protection of said records. This protection is, in the authors' opinion, twofold. First, whereas the information appearing in the records is the fruit of intellectual labour that has been expended to analyse and cleanse the registration books' information on each property, we can consider the result an original creation that deserves the protection given to original databases under copyright. Second, whereas procuring and presenting the records has required a substantial investment (of intellectual effort at least), the records constitute databases and can claim protection through the sui generis right envisaged in the Revised Intellectual Property Act. The paper then finishes by exploring the contents of copyright and the sui generis right in ownership and current charge records, while thoroughly analysing their ownership.