Data Property Rights: The Chinese Way

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 as calls for data ownership encounter difficulties of treating data as goods and framing data within the existing property law regime. This essay will explore the Chinese trajectory towards defining the legal foundation of data property rights, also from the perspective of digital sovereignty starting from the legal battles between various Chinese internet platforms in this field and moving to the analysis of policies and the data-specific legislation enacted in the year 2021 and 2022.