On the Possible Use of Databases to Secure Receivable Debts

The article assesses the possibilities of using databases to secure receivable debts, i.e. as collateral, more than ten years after the ruling in the case Your Response v. Datateam Business Media where this possibility was denied. In order to do so, it first examines why someone may wish to use a database for this purpose and what the features are, including the limited accessibility of the database and its contents, that make a database an asset that may be useful in that context. The article then addresses the scope of the sui generis database right and its limited utility from the perspective of security rights, taking into consideration the entry into force of the Data Act. It analyses databases at three different levels: semantical, syntactical and structural, exploring at which level the features resulting in the value of the database should be placed, and thus the level at which the question of establishing a security interest over a database should be dealt with. The article goes on to provide for some theoretical approaches of introducing the rules on securities over databases into the legal system. It analyses the perspective of introducing proprietary rights to the database, the possible qualification of the database as a digital asset and the question of its control, as well as the contractual schemes that may be used in order to establish and enforce the security interest over a database.