If there was ever a possibility that Data could, conceivably, be viewed as property, then why was he allowed to enter Starfleet in the first place? I can't shake the feeling that the very fact that Data IS in Starfleet, is automatically proof that he is a fully sentient being and is no one's property. It should never have been an issue once Data successfully entered the Academy.
I mean, surely it's a condition of admission to Starfleet that all applicants must be sentient (I can't even consider why they would allow a being to serve in Starfleet if it was NOT sentient). So if Data is allowed in, therefore he must, by definition and retroactively, BE sentient. Right?
Easily. That's my only real gripe about the episode. You have to suspend a lot of disbelief to get past that. The only reason it was brought to trial, was maybe because no one had ever made the claim, & once it was made, the judge actually found some mysterious statute on the books to support it. The statue was called The Act's Of Cumberland