Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 calls for lawyers out

Who is liable if the self-propelled car a Crash builds? There are still intellectual property, if intelligent machines are at work? The law allows the digitalization barely follow.

It was only a sample, but what the engineers of the International Automobildachverbandes FIA recently when looking in the databases of two BMW cars discovered, is so many car drivers think. Of the maximum speed of the motor in connection with the mileage, the number of electronic Gurtstraffungen by sharp braking manoeuvre is triggered, up to the last Parkpositionen with GPS coordinates they found everything to be recorded.

For Philipp Haas, IT specialist at m automobile supplier Bosch, which is no Surprise. “If you look at a modern car to look at, then that is crammed with Sensors and controllers,” he explains. “The are now around 50 units. If you just take it, the whole ride technically be traced.” Is the car connected to the Internet, data can even be continuously transmitted.

In the BMW i3 were even the last ten Parkpositionen velvet coordinates stored

All cross-eyed on the data

Whether a motorist is restrained or in the border area goes, interested in many people. The manufacturer, because they are their vehicles to optimize, but even after operating errors when it comes to a warranty. Also car insurance will be noisy, because they insurance policies could offer the handling characteristics are dependent on.

Also suppliers like Bosch have sniffed out a business. Even if you knew the rule, not what the manufacturer exactly save, would, reported, Philipp Haas. Bosch wants all his products as soon as possible in a network. “The Digitalisierungswelle has us fully covered. The networking, the resulting data collection and makes possible becoming new business models are a huge issue.”

Privacy inhibits

Because rubs the citizens puzzled eyes. The use of personal data by data protection not to narrow limits? Basically Yes, but the economic temptations are so great, that not only the economy, warns that laws should development and use of digital innovations, applications and business models do not affect. “Our aim must be a sensible Balance between privacy on the one hand, and the legitimate requirements of an innovation economy, on the other hand, because data are the lubricant and the fuel for our industry”, says EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger.

EU Commissioner Günther Oettinger

For four years, the EU-Commission with the member States and the EU Parliament on a Datenschutzgrundverordnung argued that now, in 2018 to enter into force. Now it is for the Commission to, in spite of this regulation a well-functioning digital internal market. “It’s about Datenhandel, the free flow of data, a traffic build up, even if no-one knows how the privacy is supposed to go,” explains the Internet and media lawyers, Peter groom. “It goes to the taxation data, pricing data, so it was a huge project, of course, also the economic situation.”

The right is lagging behind

It is not only personal data, but also to those that something about the machines, production processes and the surrounding environment statements. Data in the “Internet of things” more and more will be incurred. For them, there is still no clear legal rules, for this, throw even more questions. “To whom do you belong, who must use the, who must with them make money?”, for Ulrich Grillo, the President of the Federal Association of German industry (BDI), which is particularly obvious questions.

Grillo hits the bow, but still further: “What if in the future, items not only produce, but also independently decide and act?” Who is liable if a self-driving car or a self-controlled robot to cause an injury? “Shall be liable for such a car, the driver, the holder, the manufacturer, the suppliers of Software?”, asks the industry President.

The civil code comes from the German Empire. Is it now obsolete?

A new Civil code?

Have the liability, contract law or competition law and labour law changes, needs perhaps even the Civil code be rewritten? Most of the lawyers waving tones. If a robot is a damage counter, it was actually comparable to a vicious dog and could be a insurance covered, says Heiko Willems, head of the legal Department at the industry Association. “If we think about it, in the public room systems to allow the we socially want, then we must always also think about which risks we want to accept.”

A compulsory insurance must, however, not solely the operators to meet, but it could possibly also solidarity-based models. “Maybe branchenmäßig organized, so that insurance Solutions also by manufacturers to be supported.”

When the robot lyrics and sing

Be solved seem to be the problems in copyright law. What if not only people are creative, images, music and texts create, but if the Software learns and develops, and new spiritual values creates? Here, the lawyers still have the programmer as the rightful owner of the developed intellectual property, since he is at the beginning of the chain. Similar can also be changes in requirements in other jurisdictions, defuse. The biggest Problem is and remains the question of who is in the future, which data include those who have access and those who do business with data. Here, there is still plenty of material for discussion.