Regulation of the Digital Economy

The goal of the project is to make an academic contribution to the on-going debate regarding the emerging legal and regulatory issues related to the data-driven economy. From a de lege lata perspective, the legal status quo and the existing regulatory framework are analysed in view of the distinction between personal and non-personal data. From a de lege ferenda perspective, the question arises whether there is a need for a new regulation that could promote data-driven innovation and markets, as well as maximise the growth potential of the digital economy.

From the policymaking perspective, the question is whether data – especially non-personal data – should be allocated to the particular right holders. As such allocation does not exist under the current legal regime, access to data is usually gained through contracts. In view of the overall objective to enable the ‘free flow of data’, the questions arise: On what grounds could a regulatory intervention be justified, and how should such intervention be designed without restricting unnecessarily innovation and competition?

Position Statements

Data Ownership and Access to Data (08/16/2016) – English / German

Public consultation on Building the European Data Economy (04/26/2017) – English / Chinese

Arguments Against Data Ownership: Ten questions and answer – English / German

Publications

• Josef Drexl, Technical Aspects of Artificial Intelligence: An Understanding from an Intellectual Property Law Perspective (Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper, No. 19-13), 2019, 15 S. (gemeinsam mit Reto M. Hilty et al.).
• Josef Drexl, Designing Competitive Markets for Industrial Data - Between Propertisation and Access Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper No. 16-13 (2016)
• Josef Drexl, Neue Regeln für die Europäische Datenwirtschaft? Ein Plädoyer für einen wettbewerbspolitischen Ansatz - Teil 1 NZKart - Neue Zeitschrift für Kartellrecht 5, 7 (2017), 339 - 344.
• Josef Drexl, Neue Regeln für die Europäische Datenwirtschaft? Ein Plädoyer für einen wettbewerbspolitischen Ansatz - Teil 2 NZKart - Neue Zeitschrift für Kartellrecht 5, 8 (2017), 415 - 421.
• Josef Drexl, On the Future EU Legal Framework for the Digital Economy: A Competition-based Response to the ‘Ownership and Access’ Debate in: Sebastian Lohsse, Reiner Schulze, Dirk Staudenmayer (eds.), Trading Data in the Digital Economy: Legal Concepts and Tools, Nomos and Hart, Baden-Baden and Oxford 2017, 223 - 243.
• Josef Drexl, Legal Challenges of the Changing Role of Personal and Non-Personal Data in the Data Economy (Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper, No. 18-23), 2018, 33 S.
• Michèle Finck, Platform Regulation German Law Journal 2018, forthcoming
• Reto M. Hilty, Daten zu verkaufen Gastbeitrag, Süddeutsche Zeitung (11.09. 2017)
• Daria Kim, No One’s Ownership as the Status Quo and a Possible Way Forward: A note on the public consultation on building a European data economy, Journal of Intellectual Law and Practice (forthcoming) (first publish in GRUR Int, 8/9 (2017))
• Heiko Richter, Die Hydra des Dateneigentums – eine methodische Betrachtung in: Stiftung Datenschutz (ed.), Dateneigentum und Datenhandel (DatenDebatten, 3), Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2018, 241 - 260 (together with Reto M. Hilty)
• Heiko Richter, The Power Paradigm in Private Law – Towards a Holistic Regulation of Personal Data in: Mor Bakhoum et al. (ed.), Personal Data in Competition, Consumer Protection and Intellectual Property Law (MPI Studies on Intellectual Property and Competition Law, 28), Springer, Berlin 2018, 527 - 577.
• Gintare Surblytė, Data as a Digital Resource Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper No. 16-12 (2016)

Dissertation Projects

• Luc Desaunettes: Der rechtliche Schutz von Geschäftsgeheimnissen – Internationales, europäisches und nationales Recht im Vergleich
• Jure Globocnik: Die Rolle der Datenportabilität in der datengetriebenen Wirtschaft zwischen Rechtsschutz und Zugang
• Franziska Greiner: Informationen und Daten als Erzeugnisse im Sinne des § 9 S. 2 Nr. 3 PatG?
• Daria Kim:‎ Designing a Sui-generis Regime of Access to Clinical Trial Data in the Context of Competition in Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry
• Heiko Richter: Wettbewerb und Innovation auf Märkten für Public Sector Information (PSI)
• Klaus Wiedemann: Zur datenschutzrechtlichen Zulässigkeit von Preisdiskriminierung mit den Mitteln des Profiling