Copyrighting Big Data

Law making has never been able to keep up with the speed of technology. Indeed, reacting appropriately is possible only if opportunities and dangers are well known. Nowadays, this is the case with big data where it should be recognized that a value gap exists between the producers of the data and those that, from the same data, make profit. Does it mean that data ownership exists? While the discussion might take place within different legal areas, intellectual property law may be favored. Indeed, the rationale, the codification, and the constraints of copyright law, could serve as an example of how to efficiently deal with public goods, as is the case with big data. At the same time, the ongoing discussion on the reform of European copyright law may be an opportunity to address this problem. Certainly, data mining was already a hot topic in the 2012 consultations on content in the digital single market. Nevertheless, creating new exclusive rights leads to restricting access to public goods, and for this reason, well-built justifications are needed.