Machine-generated data is a hot commodity, but who owns this information? As more and more valuable data are generated, should there be legislation to establish ownership and, potentially, access rights? The European Commission conducted a public consultation, “Building a European Data Economy,” to find out.

The consultation addressed key factors, such as the question to what extent digital non-personal machine-generated data are traded and exchanged. The Commission also wanted to determine whether the changing technological landscape warrants the formation of an ownership-type right to machine-generated data.

The “Building a European Data Economy” consultation ended in April 2017. The European Commission has not yet released a final report with conclusions, but a preliminary summary was made public. The summary indicates that several participating businesses were concerned over the right to data.
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