Is there any case law where someone has asserted a database right for a DNS zone?
It seems like a rather stupid thing to do. If someone asserted such a right, I would make sure not to infringe it by ensuring no entries from that database entered my DNS caches or other software.
It wasn’t the zone itself as such - the concern was use of enumerated zone data to then perform bulk collection of Whois data.
Also, I see that in a decision last year the ECJ required "substantial extraction" also caused "significant detriment" to the investment in the database. I'm having trouble coming up with a scenario in which copying even the entire thing would impair the investment unless they are going to assert that the structure of the names somehow gave away secrets about their business plans.
The detriment was scammers sending fake domain renewal notices. Also, this was 15 or so years ago now… Ray