디지털 데이터의 물건성과 특허의 대상
On April 21st, the Dutch Commercial Court (NCC) ruled that ownership of digital data cannot be recognized under Dutch law. According to the below article, the NCC determined that while the contractual relationship between the parties is governed by the law of New York, the question of whether property rights can arise in documents and data located in the Netherlands is governed by Dutch law. Under Dutch law, ownership can only be granted to "tangible objects under human control" (Article 5(1) and Article 3(2) of the Dutch Civil Code), and therefore digital data does not fall under this category. Inferring the legal concept of ownership to digital data would encroach upon the legislative branch's area of competence and privilege. Most other European countries also define the object of ownership as tangible objects or things. However, other countries' judiciaries tend to interpret the definition of a tangible object as expandable to include controllable intangible obj...