An ontology-based model for representing "Bundle-of-Rights"

Abstract

This paper describes an application of the lexical resource JurWordNet and of Core Legal Ontology as a descriptive vocabulary for modeling legal domains. The two resources can be viewed as a repository of structured knowledge aimed at supporting the modeling of normative domains. In our ontological approach legal entities are represented as conceptual units and their interrelations are described inside the same language. Besides practical applications, these new forms of representation allow exercises of computational jurisprudence, in that they consent to formally analyze phenomena and aspects of juridical factuality for which the general theory of law has already created models and theories. This contribution aims to present a preliminary analysis of the relation among regulative units and to investigate how further aspects linked to the description of parts of norms and complex concepts can be represented in an ontology-based framework. As a case study, in the field of the Intellectual Property Right (IPR) management, the representation of click-on licences for re-using Public Sector Information is presented. © Springer-Verlag 2004.