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Protecting intellectual property rights is protecting innovation. The secretary-general of xi stated that “it is necessary to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in a comprehensive manner from the height of the national strategy and the requirements of the new stage of development, to promote the building of a modern economic system and to stimulate innovation throughout society”. In the digital economy, where data are core resources for technological innovation and economic growth, intellectual property protection provides incentives for producers, processors and holders of data and promotes the creation and innovation of data resources that are critical to emerging areas such as data-driven big data analysis and artificial intelligence. The construction of a scientifically efficient system of protection of intellectual property rights has helped to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of innovative subjects and enhance the competitiveness of our digital economy。
Data intellectual property protection for digital economic prosperity
Data have become a key factor of production alongside land, labour, capital and technology in an accelerated historical process of global digital transformation. In the context of digital technology, intellectual achievements such as works, when they are carried by data, their intrinsic properties remain unchanged and remain protected under intellectual property law. Intellectual property law continues to play an important role in this environment, protecting the legitimate interests of creators by giving them exclusive rights over their intellectual achievements。
The protection of intellectual property rights in data is the protection of innovation and thus the promotion of high-quality development in the digital economy. At the heart of the intellectual property system lies the incentive to invest resources in creative activities by giving innovators exclusive rights. Promoting the rational distribution of the rights and interests of data in the digital economy requires strengthening a well-structured system of protection of intellectual property rights for data, and the systematic protection of the original intellectual results of data as vehicles and expressions. In the digital economy era, where the strategic value of data elements has become increasingly evident, the construction of a well-developed system of data protection of intellectual property rights has become an important underpinning for the promotion of innovative development, the preservation of digital sovereignty and the promotion of the digital economy's prosperity。
The subject of intellectual property protection is characterized by high input, easy to replicate and high risk. With the widespread application of data technologies, various data intellectual property rights violations are common. The development of big data and artificial intelligence has led to many new types of copyright abuse, such as unauthorized use of copyright-protected texts, pictures, music and other data for training in artificial intelligence models, and misuse of data derivatives. These data carry multiple interests, single-sector laws do not allow for the complete protection of data, and there is a need to ensure a balance between the protection of rights and interests and the use of data flows through the construction of a cohesive and connected data legal framework。
As a data-rich country with a large volume of data resources and a vast market for applications, it is important to establish a system of data intellectual property protection in line with international standards and to promote the healthy development of the digital economy while preserving national digital sovereignty. Data intellectual property protection will play an increasingly important role, particularly in international competition in frontier areas such as artificial intelligence. In the face of the new situation of market-based reform of data elements and the new requirements of digital economic development, our country must adhere to a problem-oriented, systematic thinking that will accelerate the construction of a data intellectual property protection system that is consistent with international rules and reflects china's characteristics through a combination of institutional innovation and pluralistic governance。
Exploration of data intellectual property protection
We attach great importance to data intellectual property protection. In the existing legal system, copyright law provides the basic legal basis for data protection, mainly for creative work data and data sets of creators. However, as the centrality of data as an important factor of production in the digital economy continues to rise, reliance on copyright law alone is becoming difficult to meet the need for comprehensive protection of data rights, flows and use。
A data intellectual property registration system has emerged. In 2022, the national intellectual property agency piloted data intellectual property in eight regions, including beijing and shanghai, filling gaps in the registration system in the area of data intellectual property protection, strengthening the legitimacy and security of data flows, providing not only a normative operational framework for data trading, sharing and utilization, but also a preliminary adjudicative basis for data-to-abuse disputes in judicial practice and contributing to the market allocation of data elements and the high-quality development of the digital economy. In 2024, the national intellectual property agency further expanded its pilot scope by adding nine new regions, including tianjin, hebei, shanxi, anhui, henan, hubei, hunan, guizhou and shaanxi, as data intellectual property rights pilots. This expansion is intended to contribute to the deepening of data intellectual property protection practices at the national level, through the accumulation of experience in pilot areas, the improvement of data property registration systems, the promotion of the legal flow and efficient use of data resources and the promotion of sustained prosperity and high-quality development of the digital economy. It also marks a solid step towards a broader and higher level of data intellectual property protection, laying the foundation for a scientific and impartial national data governance system。
However, our data intellectual property registration system is still at an exploratory stage and has not yet resulted in a unified national system of data intellectual property registration. For example, the criteria for defining the subject of registration are unclear and the specific scope of registration and the attributes of rights are yet to be determined. This ambiguity not only increases the complexity of the operation, but may also lead to disputes about attribution of rights. Moreover, the current registration of intellectual property rights is mostly declaratory, and legal safeguards for the effectiveness of registration are inadequate. At the same time, at this stage there is a mismatch between data-related technologies and data intellectual property registration systems. While technologies such as block chains provide technical support for the registration of intellectual property rights for data, in practice, technical safeguards and regulatory capacity for data registration are inadequate and the registration system has limited capacity to review data authenticity and data tenure. The lack of efficient technical support systems in some of the pilots has made it difficult to fully secure the security and credibility of registration data。
Paths and strategies for data intellectual property protection
Improving the legal framework for data intellectual property protection. Build a basic legal framework for data intellectual property protection, define precisely the concept and content of data intellectual property protection, clarify the attribution, rules of access and boundaries of data intellectual property protection, and provide basic adherence to data intellectual property protection. The elaboration of specific rules for the protection of intellectual property rights in data, based on the specific requirements of data collection, processing, storage, transmission, use, etc., based on copyright law for the protection of data and data sets for works, improving systems for the rational use of data for works, addressing the relationship between the protection of rights and interests in data and the use of data flows, and promoting new and emerging technological development and digital economic development in protection. (c) to improve the systems for the protection of intellectual property rights in data and to improve the mechanisms for registration of intellectual property rights in data, trading systems, regulatory systems, etc. Establish a data intellectual property asset assessment system to regulate data pricing methods. (c) establish a dedicated data interest intellectual property dispute resolution mechanism to provide efficient and easy access to benefits。
(c) building collaborative mechanisms for data intellectual property protection. Government departments play a leading role in strengthening oversight and regulation of data intellectual property protection. Establish cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms to advance data intellectual property protection in an integrated manner. (c) strengthen law enforcement efforts to severely combat data abuse of intellectual property rights. Focus on the organic combination of government regulation and industry self-regulation to create regulatory synergies. Support for the participation of social organizations such as industry associations in data intellectual property protection. To act as a bridge between industry organizations and promote virtuous interaction between governments, businesses and users. Enterprises are encouraged to innovate in intellectual property protection models for data, develop data security technologies to enhance protection capacity, establish sound internal management systems and strengthen technical protection measures. The development of a data intellectual property protection system is promoted through multiple collaborations among governments, businesses and academic institutions. Governments provide policy support, enterprises assume responsibility for technology research and development and commercial applications, and academic institutions provide intellectual support for relevant legal and technical issues. Raising public awareness of data rights and interests and developing responsible data usage habits. Establishment of public participation mechanisms, encouragement of social oversight, and creation of a protective environment for participation。
Promote cross-border collaboration on data intellectual property protection. Against the backdrop of increasing international competition, data resources have become an important component of national competitiveness. Enhanced data intellectual property protection is not only a need for economic development but also an important means of enhancing international competitiveness. Differences in data rights and intellectual property protection policies between different countries add to the complexity of international data governance. China should be actively involved in the formulation of international rules for the protection of data intellectual property rights and contribute to china's wisdom by proposing chinese programmes. Promote the establishment of globally harmonized standards for the protection of intellectual property rights and provide normative guidance for cross-border intellectual property rights transactions. Support the establishment of an international data dispute resolution mechanism to jointly combat violations of data intellectual property rights and protect the legitimate interests of all parties. Strengthen communication and cooperation with other countries and regions in the area of data intellectual property protection to learn from best practices and jointly address challenges。
