Commercial Data Governance: Developing Typology-Based Intellectual Property Protections

With the rapid advancement of digital technologies, commercial data have emerged as fundamental elements of the digital economy, demonstrating increasing significance. Characterized by their intangible nature, non-rivalry, and non-excludability, commercial data exhibit substantial compatibility with intellectual property subject matter. The inherent flexibility of intellectual property regimes, coupled with the convergent legislative values of data protection and intellectual property governance, establishes both the feasibility and legitimacy of protecting commercial data within intellectual property frameworks. This context renders the introduction of a categorized protection approach that is theoretically valuable and practically significant. Within the framework of the intellectual property rights system, a classified protection system can be established based on the different characteristics of commercial data. For data collections that are original selections, the protection rules for compilations in copyright law can be applied. For commercial data that meet the requirements of secrecy, value, and confidentiality, protection can be provided through the trade secret system. For general commercial data that have been deeply processed but lack originality or secrecy, exploring the establishment of a new type of data intellectual property rights system is necessary in order to achieve a balance of interests by granting limited exclusive rights. Such differentiated protection mechanisms would systematically address the heterogeneous nature of commercial data assets while maintaining appropriate incentives for data production and circulation in digital markets.