The modern “digital” economy is characterized by the transformation of the nature of data (personal data, non-personal data, and Big Data). While previously data used to be understood as merely a non-material and even non-alienable object, today data has become an alienable good and a kind of payment. That is why in modern economy the term ‘commodification of data’ has appeared, whereas in legal doctrine the theory of propertization of data, which considers data as a new kind of property, has taken its place.

The aim of this article is to analyze the legal nature of data and to determine whether data may be considered a type of property based on economic analysis of the concept of property and on the classical understanding of this concept in the Ukrainian legal tradition.

The analysis has affirmed that the theory of propertization of data is based on the economic analysis of law and has a rational background. However, the apparent flaw of the theory is that there are a lot of discrepancies between the theory and the classical doctrine of property law. In particular, from the latter’s perspective non-material and nonalienable subjects may not be considered property and fall within the property law.

Hence, based on the results of the research the author resumes that the theory of propertization may not be considered as a methodologic basis of the legal framework for the transferability of data. Meanwhile, since the transferability of data has much in common with the transferability of the results of intellectual activity, it is correct to apply not the concept of property, but the concept of exceptional rights. Thus, individuals owning or acquiring data may be classified into primary and secondary data possessors, where the primary possessors have both material and non-material rights to data, and the secondary possessors may have only material rights. Individuals who possess non-personal data (e. g. anonymized data) have material rights to them.

Bibliography

Authored books

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Journal articles

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Websites

21. Crișan C, Zbuchea A, Moraru S, ‘Big Data: The Beauty or the Beast’ (Strategica: Management, Finance, and Ethics) <https://ssrn.com/abstract=2544723> (accessed: 08.032021) (in English).

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Thesis

23. Radon Barbara, ‘Trade Secrets Protection for “Big Data”: Personal Data as Trade Secrets in the European Union’ (2015/16) MIPLC Master Thesis Series <https://ssrn.com/ abstract=3012525> (accessed: 08.03.2021) (in English).

Conference papers

24. Pazos Ricardo, ‘Personal Data as an Economic Good – Misleading Commercial Practices and Social Networks’ (July 1, 2017) How Deep Is Your Law? Brexit. Technologies. Modern Conflicts. Conference Papers (Vilnius University Faculty of Law 2017) 288–97 <https://ssrn.com/abstract=3011199> (accessed: 08.03.2021) (in English).