Guido Noto La Diega

University of Stirling · Stirling Law School

While scarcity of resources is the main traditional justification for proprietary approaches, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) heralds an age of abundance of data, which calls for a commons-inspired approach to data. Open data is no longer just the mantra of sparse communities of developers and designers. The EU has recently started to embrac...

In this chapter we explore the intersections between wearable computing, privacy, and data protection in the fashion industry. We provide a broad overview of the relationship between wearables, privacy, and data protection, and highlight the importance of considering both physical and digital wearables. Using a pragmatic combination of doctrinal le...

Psychology studies have for some time shown that, as humans, we tend to recognise the ownership of ideas and that the unauthorised use of others’ ideas is frowned upon (Olson and Shaw, 2011). Morally, a person is often said to have a natural right to the product of their brain (Vaver, 1990). This explains why Intellectual Property (IP) is so freque...

This chapter reflects on what a sustainable patent governance looks like in the age of the rise of inventive AI. To do so, we critically evaluate the relationship between Artificial Intelligence, European patent law, and sustainability with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goal 9, i.e. to build resilient infrastructure, to promote inclusive a...

Please cite as Guido Noto La Diega, ‘Ending Smart Data Enclosures: The European Approach to the Regulation of the Internet of Things between Access and Intellectual Property’, in Stacy-Ann Elvy and Nancy Kim (eds), The Cambridge Handbook on Emerging Issues at the Intersection of Commercial Law and Technology (Cambridge University Press 2023) As Eu...

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant change in the types of teaching infrastructure used in higher education. This article examines how the use of commercial digital platforms for educational purposes impacted on teaching practices. At the same time, it shines a light on the experiences and (legal) perceptions of educators as an essential...

The COVID-19 pandemic has consolidated a double move. On the one hand, universities are becoming increasingly aware of the strategic value of copyright. On the other hand, the necessity to embrace distance education is making universities realise that there is a wealth of issues that go beyond ownership of research outputs and reprography rights. U...

В данной статье рассматриваются базы данных, в которых используются технологии искусственного интеллекта для получения, проверки или представления содержимого базы данных («базыданных ИИ»). Главный исследовательский вопрос заключается в том, могут ли базы данных ИИ охраняться в рамках режимов авторского права и права sui generis, предусмотренных Ди...

The British and Irish Law Education Technology Association (BILETA) was formed in April 1986 to promote, develop and communicate high-quality research and knowledge on technology law and policy to organisations, governments, professionals, students and the public. BILETA also promotes the use of and research into technology at all stages of educati...

This chapter will present the main intellectual property (IP) issues in the Internet of Things (IoT) and concentrate on one of them, that has been framed as ‘death of ownership’ by Joshua Fairfield in Owned, a seminal book that will provide an initial framework to understand this issue. Ownership of smart devices (called 'Things' in this book) is d...

The Internet of Things (IoT) has heralded a never-before-seen quantity of high-quality data. This includes both personal and non-personal data. Factual and legal control over IoT data gives companies unparalleled power to influence consumers, policy makers, and the other stake-holders of the IoT’s supply chain. The combination of analytics algorith...

The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus forced educational institutions to transition to online education. This contribution analyzes, through the lens of copyright law, the terms and conditions of some selected online services used to deliver remote teaching. The study highlights the most problematic terms and their detrimental effects on remote teachi...

The first post of this two-part series on Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) discussed the copyright implications of the use of different online services in the context of ERT. The second part explores the data protection issues. Our analysis evaluates compliance of platforms with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in order to assess how t...

Very few institutions were prepared for the transition to distance learning. Although most teachers would have been familiar with online learning platforms and communication services, the swift move to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) took most universities by surprise. Some universities were able to rely on licensed software, repurposed to instruct...

There are two interwoven trends in cyber-counterterrorism. On the one hand, countries such as Israel and Russia announce the deployment of lethal autonomous weapons. Such weapons constitute the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms. On the other hand, researchers try and embed ethics into the design of these weapons (so-call...

This paper has been submitted in the context of WIPO’s public consultation on the ‘Draft Issues Paper on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence’ (WIPO/IP/AI/2/GE/20/1). Whilst WIPO's draft paper is a commendable effort to start a well-evidenced conversation on a matter of the utmost importance, it is open to criticism, especially because...

In October 2018, the European Parliament passed a resolution on distributed ledger technologies that recognised blockchains’ potential to disrupt copyright and creative industries. The aim of this chapter is to examine blockchain technologies and provide an assessment of their disruptive potential upon the legal sphere of intellectual property, and...

This work presents ten arguments against algorithmic decision-making. These re-volve around the concepts of ubiquitous discretionary interpretation, holistic intu-ition, algorithmic bias, the three black boxes, psychology of conformity, power of sanctions, civilising force of hypocrisy, pluralism, empathy, and technocracy. Nowadays algorithms can d...

The fashion industry is affected by an imbalance of power that goes beyond the outsourcing of part of the manufacture to developing countries. Said imbalance characterises the whole supply chain and hinders freedom of expression, freedom to conduct business and, hence, creativity and innovation. In order to understand fashion, IP lawyers and lawmak...

The WTO can play an important role in achieving the UN sustainable development goals. Investments in AI and IoT could go a long way, in that these technologies could lead to economic growth, innovation, good health, and new services. For this to happen, however, they must be adequately governed. This means, practically, that we need laws – and IP l...

This paper has been submitted in the context of WIPO’s public consultation on the ‘Draft Issues Paper on Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence’ (WIPO/IP/AI/2/GE/20/1). Whilst WIPO's draft paper is a commendable effort to start a well-evidenced conversation on a matter of the utmost importance, it is open to criticism, especially because...

2018 г. Европарламент принял резолюцию о техноло-гиях распределенных реестров, в которой признал, что блокчейн обладает потен-циалом, способным разрушить авторское право и творческие сферы деятельно-сти. Цель настоящего исследования-изучение блокчейн-технологий и оценка их прорывного потенциала для правовой сферы интеллектуальной собственно-сти, в...

This chapter analyses how European countries that provide some protection for same-sex couples (e.g. civil partnerships, but not marriage) deal with same-sex marriages celebrated abroad. In this respect, there are three models: recognition, downgrading, and erasure. Recognition means that these marriages are recognised as marriages, either for all...

In October 2018, the European Parliament passed a resolution on distributed ledger technologies that recognised blockchains’ potential to disrupt copyright and creative industries. The aim of this chapter is to examine blockchain technologies and provide an assessment of their disruptive potential upon the legal sphere of intellectual property, and...

The deployment of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) is a controversial and emotive subject, one that asks questions of human ethics and morals. Is it desirable or even possible to deploy morally sound LAWS? Dr Guido Noto La Diega, from Northumbria University, analyses this topic in a seminar at the University of Hull, entitled, “Towards the...

This paper deals with those databases where Artificial Intelligence technologies are used to obtain, verify, or present the database’s contents (‘AI databases’). The overarching research question is whether AI databases can be protected under the copyright and sui generis regimes provided by the Database Directive. The alleged inadequacy of the sui...

The ‘Internet of Bodies ’ (IoB) is the latest development of the Internet of Things. It encompasses a variety of phenomena, from implanted smart devices to the informal regulation of body norms in online communities. This article presents the results of empirical qualitative research on dating mobile applications for men who have sex with men ( ‘ M...

The 'Internet of Bodies' (IoB) is the latest development of the Internet of Things. It encompasses a variety of phenomena, from implanted smart devices to the informal regulation of body norms in online communities. This chapter presents the results of an empirical qualitative research on dating mobile applications for men who have sex with men ('M...

Digital currencies, whilst being an innovative payment method, poses several regulatory challenges in light of the possibilities to be used for a criminal purpose. This collaborative essay illustrates a brief report, which intends to provide for a general outlook on the UK’s effort in understanding the risks digital currencies pose to financial cri...

Facilitated by the growth of cloud computing, artificial intelligence (e.g. machine learning), and big data (e.g. predictive analytics), new tracking and profiling techniques have been developed. They have enabled the rise of targeted advertising, that is the provision of advertisements tailored to the tastes and habits of the user who actually vie...

In April 2018, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed a complaint against Grindr, the most popular gay dating app in the world, in light of its decision to share its users’ personal data – including HIV status and sexual preferences – with third parties. But the complaint and the outraged reaction overlooked another turn of events: in January 2018, G...

Nowadays algorithms can decide if one can get a loan, is allowed to cross a border, or must go to prison. Artificial intelligence techniques (natural language processing and machine learning in the first place) enable private and public decision-makers to analyse big data in order to build profiles, which are used to make decisions in an automated...

The Cambridge Analytica scandal in March 2018 was a useful reminder of how personal data is used for targeting users and of how such targeting has profound societal consequences. Online behavioural advertising refers to advertisements, which are tailored to the tastes and habits of the user who actually views them. It is an intricate phenomenon for...

There are two interwoven trends in cyber-counterterrorism. On the one hand, countries such as Israel and Russia announce the deployment of lethal autonomous weapons. Such weapons constitute the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms. On the other hand, researchers try and embed ethics into the design of these weapons (so-call...

There is an increasing interest in the ethical design of robots. As evidence of this fact, one may refer to some recent reports and the European Parliament’s resolution on civil law rules on robotics.The latter will be the primary focus of this analysis since the EU Parliament is the first legal institution in the world to have initiated work of a...

Italy has been one of the first countries in the world to enact ad hoc regulations on drones. Therefore, the Italian approach may constitute a model for many regulations to come; nonetheless, the legal literature seems to overlook the phenomenon. In this article, I place the discourse on drones in the context of some more general considerations on...

This article sheds light on the pressing issue of software patents by giving an account of the approaches followed in Europe, the US and India. The occasion of this study is the adoption in 2016 of the final version of the Indian guidelines on the examination of computer-related inventions, which have been surprisingly overlooked in the legal liter...

This article is a useful tool for both Asian and European readers as regards some of the state-of-the-art technologies revolving around the Internet of Things (‘IoT’) and their intersection with cloud computing (the Clouds of Things, ‘CoT’) in both the continents. The main legal issues will be presented, with a focus on intellectual property, consu...

This article sheds light on the main consumer law aspects of the sharing economy through an empirical analysis of online platforms. Given the recent European consultation with the purpose of understanding (whether, or, more likely) how to regulate platforms, it is critical that consumer law considerations will be part of future regulations. For ins...

The world of the ‘Internet of Things’ (‘IoT’) is just one manifestation of recent developments in information and communication technologies (‘ICTs’), closely tied to others, including ‘cloud computing’ and ‘big data’. For our purposes, the ‘Thing’ in the IoT is any physical entity capable of connectivity that directly interfaces the physical world...

This paper examines some of the key factors that contribute to build or erode users’ trust in a platform-based service such as the one provided by Uber Technologies Inc. As clarified by the European Commission, the future Internet cannot succeed without trust of online platforms’ users. The paper explores Uber’s web of relationships with different...

The article critically analyses the Internet of Things (IoT) and its intersection with cloud computing, the so-called Clouds of Things (CoT). ‘Things’ are understood as any physical entity capable of connectivity that has a direct interface to the physical world (i.e. a sensing and/or actuating capability). From another perspective (especially prod...

In India, sec. 3(k) of the Patents Act 1970 clearly excludes the patentability of computer programmes per se. For many years, the regime of computer-implemented inventions has been unclear, until the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (the Indian homologous of the Intellectual Property Office) issued its Guidelines on the examin...

In 1941, Herbert Marcuse predicted that ubiquitous technology would have changed the concept itself of rationality. This paper does not aim at measuring the impact on rationality of a ‘growing technical ensemble of things and relations’, but Marcuse’s idea helps us understand that the Internet of Things should make us rethink some fundamental princ...

Abstract: In the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and others v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills case, the High Court of Justice in matter of private copy exception provides the twofold prime opportunity to shed light on the state of the art of copyright in the UK and to flesh out the idea of ‘lega...

This article deals with the highly criticised Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014, which provides that now the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) regulations apply also to the videos-on-demand (and not only to DVDs), thus narrowing the scope of lawful pornographic videos. It is an occasion to think of freedom and ethics in the libe...

Following the ECJ decision that declared the Data Retention Directive invalid, the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 (DRIP) has been enacted. It is not indisputable whether the DRIP gives more powers to the intelligence services at the detriment of both citizens' privacy and freedom of enterprise or whether it simply clarifies the na...

The Court of Appeals of Turin orders the registration of the birth certificate of the son of a same-sex couple, who married in Spain (being a mother Italian, the other one Spanish). It is an unprecedented decision, because up to now LGBTIQ people could only aspire (and even that was not certain) to adopt the partner's child (step-child adoption), w...

The essay focuses on the problems of privacy and data security in european law and italian law from the perspective of cloud computing. The article aims at contributing to the better comprehension of the considered technology and to clarify the actual legal framework. Legal certainty is the only way to face the main issues cloud-related, such as co...

"Cloud Computing. In Search of Lost Law in the Web 3.0" is one of the most complete essays on the cloud, giving informations on a bunch of aspects related to the considered technology, such as privacy, cybersecurity, disaster recovery, copyright, e-Government, e-School, e-Health, servitization, consumer protection, SMEs protection, right to access...

Italian Abstract: La relazione, dopo aver dato conto dell'evoluzione dei rapporti di potere all'interno dell'Unione (fra Istituzioni, fra UE e Stati membri, con cenni alla c.d. troika), si concentra sulla libertà "dai" trattati, intesa principalmente come possibilità di rinegoziarli e recederne, senza ignorare una riflessione sulla possibilità di d...

After a deep introduction on the technical and definitory aspects of computer programs, in this essay I study the relevant European case-law, stressing the renovated importance of the idea/expression dichotomy. The occasion is propitious to describe the evolution of law in a technological environment: nihilistic views have to be abandoned.

A comment to the Sas Institute Inc. v. World Programming Ltd case [Court of Justice, Grand Chamber, 2 May 2012, C-406/10]. It is one of the most important European decisions in the field of computer programs and it is notable both from a practical and a theoretical point of view. The European Court of Justice denies protection to functionalities, p...

English Abstract: The Italian way to privatize Universities. Italian Abstract: La via italiana per privatizzare le Università tramite le fondazioni.