The Car That Reports Back: Vehicle Data, Connected Features, and Who Owns What the Car Knows
By Casey Scott McKay ·
A modern vehicle generates, stores, and transmits more data than most enterprise systems, and almost none of the law that governs it was written with vehicles in mind. This article works through what a car actually knows, who has a legal claim to it, and why the answer is decided by contract, statute, and engineering rather than by any property right in data. It covers event data recorders and the narrow federal statute that addresses them, the telematics right-to-repair fight, the wiretap and consumer protection claims now being brought over infotainment data extraction, and the subscription-feature model that turns hardware already installed into a licensing question. The second half covers the industrial side: supplier IP allocation across a tiered supply chain, standard essential patent licensing at the vehicle rather than the component, design patents on collision parts, and the firmware authentication that decides the aftermarket.
IP and Technology > Information Technology | Article | Published 25 March 2025 - Updated 22 September 2025 | Casey Scott McKay - marksy.us
Summary. A modern vehicle generates, stores, and transmits more data than most enterprise systems, and almost none of the law that governs it was written with vehicles in mind. This article works through what a car actually knows, who has a legal claim to it, and why the answer is decided by contract, statute, and engineering rather than by any property right in data. It covers event data recorders and the narrow federal statute that addresses them, the telematics right-to-repair fight, the wiretap and consumer protection claims now being brought over infotainment data extraction, and the subscription-feature model that turns hardware already installed into a licensing question. The second half covers the industrial side: supplier IP allocation across a tiered supply chain, standard essential patent licensing at the vehicle rather than the component, design patents on collision parts, and the firmware authentication that decides the aftermarket.
Keywords: vehicle data · telematics · event data recorders · connected car privacy · over-the-air updates · subscription features · software-defined vehicle · right to repair telematics · OBD-II access · standard essential patents in vehicles · component level licensing · design patents on body parts · supplier IP allocation · autonomous driving data · usage-based insurance · wiretap claims · infotainment data extraction · dealer network brand control · firmware circumvention · aftermarket parts authentication
This is premium Marksy content — the full document is available to subscribers.