Maxim Ali has commented on the dispute on the ownership of personal profiles on the social network Vkontakte

Vkontakte is with a legal dispute with a start-up called Double Data which, without permission, had been using the personal data of users of the social network to assess the creditworthiness of potential and current bank customers. According to Vkontakte, the information that is publicly available forms part of its social network database and as such is its intellectual property.

Head of the IP/IT Practice at Maxima Legal, Maxim Ali has commented on the dispute for Pravo.ru. Maxim noted that the lawfulness of Double Data’s actions will be determined not only on the basis of intellectual property law but also data protection law, which is beyond the scope of the current dispute. “Although the case relates to intellectual property, the main ‘asset’ being disputed is personal data. Whether Double Data’s conduct falls within the terms of data protection law is a big question. The situation is exacerbated by the court’s wide interpretation of ‘personal data’ to include technical information, such as cookies”, commented Maxim.

Maxim added that last year Roskomnadzor (the government regulator) formed the view that by registrating in the social network Vkontakte, users provided consent not only to the distribution of their information but also to its collection and processing.

To read the full article (in Russian), please see the Pravo.ru website.