Software and Personal data Law

Welcome to the home page of the course on « Software and Personal Data Law » of the Doctoral school of Mathematics and Informatics of Université de Bordeaux.

Objectif

This course aims at presenting to students the main legal notions used in the domain of software, databases and personal data processing, the relevant legal texts and the technical reality they aim at modeling. In the field of software law, it will allow them to better comprehend the nature of software creation, author right and its adaptation to software works, as well as its structure, its operations and the underlying economic models of the main types of free and non-free software licenses. In the field of personal data law, it will allow them to apprehend the nature of these data, the protection that they receive by law, the data subjects' rights and the obligations that are incumbent upon data controllers and processors. These issues are discussed in the broader context of the on-going digital revolution and of the economy of immaterial goods.

Following this course, the participants will be able to better identify upstream, in their professional environment, issues requiring legal/technical intervention in the fields of software law, database producer law, and/or personal data law, and to participate to the implementation of solutions: matters related to authorship and right-holding, the compatibility between licenses, determination of the purposes of personal data processing, of the technical and legal measures to implement to ensure their lawfulness, etc. This will allow them to reduce the risks to their projects comprising software developments and/or handling personal data.

Prerequisites

Bachelor-degree-level knowledge in informatics and/or law.

Contents

• The digital revolution and the economy of immaterial goods ;
• The right applicable to software and the categories of software licenses :
  • Elements of author right : work, originality, exceptions, etc.,
  • Author right adapted to software,
  • Software licenses,
  • Free and non-free software licenses : structure, economic models, triggering, compatibility, etc.,
  • Use cases of free software licenses : open consortium, closed consortium, privileged partnership,
  • Database producers right,
  • Insanity of patents on algorithmic methods ;
• The right applicable to personal data :
  • History of personal data law,
  • Nature of « personal data » and « sensitive » data,
  • Legislation applicable in Europe : the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other specialized laws (ePrivacy),
  • Data subjects' rights : information, consent, access, rectification, opposition, portability,
  • Obligations of data controllers and data processors : purpose and proportionality, privacy impact analysis (PIA), declaration, security measures,
  • Legal framework at the European level : national data protection authorities and the European Data Protection Board (EDPB).

Materials

• Slides on Software Law
• Slides on Personal Data Law

Contacts

Teacher :

• François PELLEGRINI

Please report any mistake or omission to the teacher in charge of this class.