On behalf of the European Consumer Organization BEUC, Josef Drexl has authored a study on data access and control in the era of connected (smart) devices.
The study comprehensively analyses the interface of existing and evolving intellectual property legislation (with a focus on sui generis database rights), trade secrets protection, and data and consumer protection rules for discussing the future legal regime for data generated and processed in an Internet-of-Things environment.
In line with earlier Position Statements of the Institute, the study rejects legislation on data ownership rights. Furthermore, it explores the possibilities and core requirements for a general data access regime on the EU level, which would complement competition rules and could be spelt out more concretely in the framework of sector-specific data access regimes.
See Study: Data Access and Control in the Era of Connected Devices