Perspectives from intellectual property law

This chapter focuses on intellectual property rights in data from an EU perspective. Datasets can have great potential value for those who have access to these datasets. However, access is often restricted by those who have effective control over such datasets. Intellectual property law provides them with potential tools to restrict the access and use by third parties of these datasets. When and how this can be restricted by who depends on the specific legal regime. In this chapter, these issues will be addressed by focusing on copyright, the sui generis database right and trade secret right. The legal definitions of these rights will be explored, as well as their limitations and exceptions relevant in the context of third-party use of the right holder’s dataset and software. Finally, the chapter will look into examples of alternative sources, such as data portability and public sector information, and their promise and limitations as a complementary source or substitute.