The article examines the interaction of legal regimes applicable to a database as a complex digital object. Russian law does not establish a single legal regime covering all elements of a database and the legally significant interests associated with them. Copyright protects creative selection or arrangement of materials. The related right of the database maker protects investment against extraction and subsequent use of materials. Confidential semantic content may be protected as know-how or trade secret only if separate eligibility requirements are met. The article proposes a functional-level model for the legal qualification of digital datasets, distinguishing between the legal regime of individual materials and the investment-related and confidential elements of a database structure.