빅데이터의 법적 보호 문제 - 영업비밀보호법에 의한 보호 가능성을 중심으로 -

Abstract

In the era of the 4th industrial revolution, the meaning and value of data have been emphasized drastically. In recent years we are also confronted with the new coined term “big data”, which is expected to overcome the limitations and demarcation experienced by the pre-existing data itself or databases that consist of them. As a result, the government and industry tend to be active in this area, either by investing in it or by utilizing it. The more frequently big data would be applied in industry, the more plausible there could exist disputes between entities with different interests. Thus it is requires legal discussion surrounding big data, already in the earlier stage. Among other legal aspects of big data, this Paper will focus on the possibility of its legal protection. To fulfil this aim, it firstly tries to define the concept of “big data” and extract some common characteristics of it by considering the current development in the relevant technologies. On the basis of this discussion, it is examined whether and how big data can claim protection under intellectual property law, expecially according to the protection regime sui generis for database investors which has been originally developed for typical databases in the traditional sense. However, it will more focus on the possible legal protection of big data as trade secret whose protection is governed in Korea by the Trade Secret Law within the context of the unfair competition regime. Rights arising from a trade secret are distinguished from exclusive rights conferred on holders of intellectual property and deem to be, as a consequence, characterized differently. It is difficult for the trade secret to identify and specify information in secret from the other. Furthermore, many scholars and practitioners still raise questions, whether claims based on the trade secret should be regarded as a right to the exclusive utilization or just a right to exclude someone from acquiring it. Such a uncertainty makes the trade secret law the last resort for businesses who would claim ownership over objects which has not been firmly recognized as an intellectual property yet. However, trade secret law has codified some liable conditions in depth for claiming protection, although they are sometimes considered insufficient and too abstract. Thus, the question which data can be protected under trade secret law depends on the interpretation of that law. The Paper will be concluded with the result: the trade secret law is not a suitable legal institute for the legal protection of big data. The reason is that the trade secret law is from the beginning not intended to protect data, and that it is not ready yet to recognize it as protectable. However, it is expected that big data would generate a huge amount of value and the investment would continue to increase. Answers to the questions remain still open, whether such information needs to be legally protected, and how and to what extend it can be protected, more importantly how we could formulate the legal language for the big data protection. It could be helpful to gather stakeholders, scholars and practitioners and to discuss on various issues around big data.