Technologies such as IoT applied in industrial contexts allow the collection of numerous data and parameters, related, for example, to the functioning of smart objects, consumer preferences, the most frequent causes of malfunction, etc.. All these data have a clear economic value and are very useful for the process of acquisition and training of technologies based on machine learning systems. Companies are increasingly using open data for various reasons, such as customizing the consumer experience. There are, however, some problems. These data, at the same time, are relevant to the progress of the entire society, so the question arises whether these data should be considered trade secrets or data freely available to anyone. The topic is of great interest in legal matters, as one might wonder who owns this data, whether it can be granted to third parties, and if it were to happen, what license should be used to best perform this data transfer? The talk aims to analyze the different possible answer to this question, hypothesizing the possible change to our legal framework already proposed by the national and international authorities.

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OPEN DATA:
OWNERSHIP
AND LICENSING
SFScon 2021, Bolzen/Bolzano
Avv. Margherita Cera, LL.M.

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IOT
▪ EULA
▪ Software licensing
▪ Software development
▪ ESCROW
▪ Cloud-Computing
Agreement

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MACHINE LEARNING
How to use
data within
machine
learning

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DATA TYPES
➢ Personal Data → Reg. (EU) 2016/679:
Information that identifies or makes identifiable, directly or
indirectly, a natural person and that can provide information
on his characteristics, habits, lifestyle, personal
relationships, health status, economic situation…
➢ Non–Personal Data → Reg. (EU) 2018/1807:
Data other than personal data as defined in Article 4(1)
of Regulation (EU) 2016/679
➢ Anonymised Data: process of anonymisation
➢ Industrial or a-personal Data: do not refer to
anyone

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DATA TYPES
➢Public Data: belonging to public subjects
➢Private Data: belonging to private subjects

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DATA COVERED BY IP RIGHTS
➢ commercially valuable because it is
secret
➢ be known only to a limited group of
persons
➢ be subject to reasonable steps
taken by the rightful holder of the
information to keep it secret,
including the use of confidentiality
agreements for business partners
and employees

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DATA OWNERSHIP
Who is the owner of
non-personal data?
IP right holder if the data is covered by IP
right
Public domain
Public administration

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DATABASE
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Regardless of the ownership of the individual data, the law
protects databases
Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 1996
SUI GENERIS RIGHT
Right for the maker of a database which shows that
there has been qualitatively and/or quantitatively a
substantial investment in either:
- the obtaining,
- the verification or
- the presentation
of the contents to prevent extraction and/or re-
utilization of the whole or of a substantial part,
evaluated qualitatively and/or quantitatively, of the
contents of that database .
COPYRIGHT
The copyright protection of databases provided for by
Directive shall not extend to their contents and shall
be without prejudice to any rights subsisting in those
contents themselves.

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DATABASES

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OPEN DATA LICENSES
OdbL

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OPEN DATA LICENSING
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To share
To create
To adapt
But always remember:
➢ To attribute
➢ To share alike
➢ To keep open

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OPEN DATA
“Content, information or data that everyone is allowed to use, reuse, redistribute for any
purpose without any legal, technological or social restriction or, at most, with the obligation to
guarantee its origin and openness”
Complete Timely
Searciable
Machine
Readable
Primary
Free
from
licenses
Accessible
Reusable
Non-
proprietary
The birth of the concept dates back to 2009 when President Obama presented a memorandum on transparency and open
government

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
New proposal concerning a regulation on
artificial intelligence published by the
European Commission on 21 April 2021
[COM(2021) 206 final].
How to use
data within
machine
learning

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CONCLUSION
How to use data within machine learning?
The owner of the AI must be:
➢ Owner of the data it uses to teach AI
➢ Be authorized to use data, e.g., because they are open data
Can the use of such data be authorized by means of an open
data license?
Yes, as long as the license does not prohibit the use of the data for
the purpose of teaching artificial intelligence
E.g. For ethical reasons

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CONTACT
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MARGHERITA CERA, LL.M.
Attorney at Law (Italy)
T +39-049-8046911
F +39-049-8046920
margherita.cera@roedl.com

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MILANO
Rödl & Partner
Largo Donegani 2
I-20121 Milano
T +39-02-6328841
Fax +39-02-63288420
milano@roedl.com
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Via F. Rismondo, 2/E
35131 Padova
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padova@roedl.com
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