IP, Data and AI in the digital age – Part 5

In Part 1 of this series, I made the point that the durations of different types of property, as presently organised, make no sense in a digital age.

Just to recap, the durations are as follows:

• Physical property – a house, land, or some kind of object – the duration is perpetual.

• Copyright – life of the author, plus 70 years (plus some variations).

• A database – 15 years in the UK and the EU (plus some variations).

There's also a reason why the distinctions above make no sense, and that's to do with the difference between properties that are rivalrous and properties that are not rivalrous.

Real estate (and most physical property) is rivalrous. There's only a finite amount of real estate in existence at any one time, and the more property I have, the less property anyone else can have.

Copyright and databases are not rivalrous. This is because, provided you don't copy someone's existing work or database, you are free to create exactly the same work or database. The propertisation of a work or a database does not reduce the number of other copyright works or databases available to others, nor does it reduce the ability of anyone to create exactly the same work or database.

That makes the differences in duration set out above even more ridiculous. Those things that don't have a negative effect on anyone else, copyright and databases, have very limited terms.

Those things that are rivalrous, like real estate, and which diminish what's available to everyone else, have perpetual terms.

That's not a smart way to organise things.

21st July 2026