Duty LXD-0117
Crawls the web, in Sri Lanka
Each law's tag says when it binds: since in force proposed proposed
Intellectual Property Act, fair use and compilations of datasince 3 lines
Intellectual Property Act, No. 36 of 2003, ss. 7, 8(c), 11 · Read the law's page
- Reproducing a copyrighted work for crawling or AI training must qualify as fair use under the general test, weighing the purpose and commercial character of the use, the nature of the work, the amount used, and the effect on the work's market.
- News of the day, as such, carries no copyright protection and may be reproduced without a fair-use analysis.
- A collection or compilation of data is protected only for the originality of its selection, coordination, or arrangement; the underlying data or material is not itself protected, and no separate database right attaches merely because assembling it took investment or effort.
Computer Crime Act, unauthorised access, modification and dealing with unlawfully obtained datasince 3 lines
Computer Crime Act, No. 24 of 2007, ss. 3-7 · Read the law's page
- Do not secure access to a computer or to information held in it without lawful authority; the test does not turn on defeating a technical control, so relying on a page being public and unauthenticated is not itself a defence and has not been tested by a Sri Lankan court.
- Do not intentionally cause unauthorised modification or damage to a computer, computer system, or computer programme in the course of an automated collection process.
- Do not buy, receive, retain, download, upload, or copy information known or believed to have been obtained from a computer without lawful authority by someone else.
Digital Economy Bill (in drafting)proposed0 lines
Cabinet decision, , instructing the Legal Draftsman's Department to prepare a Digital Economy Bill