Abstract

Data has been identified as “the” asset of XXI century, an asset that can be created, manufactured, processed, stored, transferred, licensed, sold and stolen and which raises questions on property rights on them. However, defining data property rights profiles is a very challenging task not only for Chinese legislator: calls for data ownership encounter difficulties of treating data as goods and framing data within the existing property law regime. This is true also within systems belonging to the Western legal tradition where, notwithstanding the growing awareness that “legal mechanism to establish, claim and transfer property rights in data” must be adopted no concerted approach to the question on data ownership has been found. As a matter of fact, data differ from traditional strategic assets based on which property law has been shaped, since they are duplicable virtual entities, neither tangible nor exclusive by nature.This essay will explore the Chinese trajectory towards defining the legal foundation of data propertyData property rights, also from the perspective of digital sovereigntyDigital sovereignties. The first emersion of data ownership issues within the context of the legal battles between various Chinese internet platforms will be analyzed. Then, an overview of policy and legislative initiatives following these cases and an analysis of the data-specific legislation enacted in the year 2021 will be made. Particular attention will be devoted to the Shenzhen Pilot Regulation on data, where property law issues have been addressed. Finally, a review of the existing academic literature on the suitability of the property rights system for data in the Chinese legal context and an introduction to the most recent policy paper will be made.