Copyright Versus Database Right of Protection in the UK : The Bioinformatics Bone of Contention

Bioinformatics is the development and use of databases for storing and interpreting genomic information. The information explosion in these databases has raised a plethora of intellectual property issues for the scientists who depend on them. Copyright and Database protection are two notable and significant methods of exploiting innovations in Bioinformatics. This article makes an in-depth analysis of the scope and utility of copyright and database protection laws in bioinformatics. This article focuses initially on the working of bioinformatics databases, and then delves into the issues and implications of copyright and database protection in bioinformatics. The article concludes that copyright in comparison to database laws serves as a better platform in keeping the balance between the interests of bioinformatics database makers and its users