The explosion of the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the importance of text and data mining techniques and tools (TDM), which serve as basis for several applications involved in the combat against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, from the monitoring of medical cases and disease expansion to vaccine development. Under this scenario, we ask how the pandemic highlights the importance of TDM tools and the effects of the current copyright protection system on databases for the development of such technologies, which depends heavily on the access and open circulation of information. To this end, we make use of bibliographic and documental research, centered on the cases of the COVID-19 observatory at Johns Hopkins University, the NextStrain project, and artificial intelligence systems. Firstly, we conceptualize data and text mining technologies, databases and machine learning, their applications and importance for scientific and technological innovation. Next, we discuss the role of copyright on databases and the barriers it imposes for the development of research and data-intensive technologies. We conclude that the current protection of databases by copyright creates obstacles to data access and use for research purposes, and that the promotion of limitations and exceptions, especially for data and text mining and for research purposes, is crucial for scientific development and technological innovation and, more specifically, for the success of the fight against this and other pandemics