Facts
Documed AG, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, has been publishing the "Swiss Pharmaceutical Compendium" since 1979, which contains technical information and patient information on medications. The company ywesee GmbH, operated by A., systematically took over this information and made it available on its website oddb.org. Documed AG then filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement and unfair competition.
The Federal Supreme Court dismissed Documed AG's appeal. It concluded that the texts of the pharmaceutical information lack the necessary individuality for copyright protection. Due to the detailed legal requirements regarding the content and structure of the information, as well as the general medical terminology and factual logic, the scope for creative design is too limited to create an independent linguistic character that deviates from the usual.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court stated that, according to case law, for copyright protection of linguistic works, the design must stand out from the everyday, generally common, so that it appears impossible that a third party would create the same or essentially the same thing with the same task. This requirement is not met in the case of the…