Face off: Facebook claims personal data is "intellectual property" | G! - gutjahr's blog. And the fun continues - now Facebook claims they can't meet the legally required deadline of 40 days and anyway, the data is Facebook's intellectual property. Quite amusing - but interesting is the hint that the data protection authority in Ireland is actively working on it, so it could indeed give Facebook a slap in the face. I think the whole thing about the alleged workload for Facebook is just an excuse - if you do it right, it's just a tool that collects and prepares a user's data from all the pots.