The Internet of Things and Intellectual Property Rights: The Protection of Data

Abstract

“Digital gold”, “new money”, “power tool” are only few of the titles given to data in the latest years. The reason is quite clear: in 2016 big data and data analytics generated a revenue of 130.1 billion US dollars in the world1. In spite of the everyday faster increase of the use and value of data, there is still an ongoing heated discussion on the opportunity of a uniform legal protection frame. This paper analyses the possible legal tools in the field of intellectual property, with particular reference to the machine-to-machine data. After a preliminary discussion on the definitions, the principles and policies behind a protection regime against the freedom of exploitation, the existing IPRs are analysed. Particular emphasis is given to the opportunity of creating a new sui generis property right, with the aim of giving a comprehensive picture of the possible pro and cons of each solution.

Keywords: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW, IPR, IoT, LAW & TECH