Intellectual Property

What's wrong with this picture? AI-created images and content: copyright ownership and infringement

Countless social media posts, images and articles have been generated using AI tools such as ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion and Dall-E. But who – if anyone – owns the copyright in the outputs, and do the tools themselves infringe copyright? Prompt-based AI tools raise two key questions under UK copyright law: (1) Are the outputs from AI tools protected by copyright at all and, if so, who owns those outputs? This determines whether a user can prevent others from copying their AI-created content. (2) Do the tools themselves infringe copyright in the underlying materials used to train the tools, and can the owners of copyright in those materials prevent the use and exploitation of (i) the AI tools themselves and (ii) the outputs of AI tools? In this article we take a deep dive into the issues and the recent infringement claims.

Intellectual Property

Birkin Battles – Hermes and Mason Rothschild square off over "Metabirkin" NFTs

This landmark case is one of the world's first to address intellectual property violations by digital creators of NFTs with artistic expression as a defense. It marks a victory for luxury brands that strive to safeguard their brand identity against third-party exploitation through the unauthorized creation of NFTs or other emerging technologies. The ruling may give some comfort to such brands by demonstrating that their intellectual property rights can be protected in the digital realm.

Intellectual Property

The Italian Supreme Court rules in favour of Hermès, protecting the 'Birkin' and 'Kelly' handbags against imitation

On 22 September 2022, the Italian Supreme Court issued a decision on the protection of the shape of the Hermès "Birkin" and "Kelly" handbags as three-dimensional trademarks. In this article, we will analyse the decision and explore its potential effects on other luxury brands.

Intellectual Property

Stripe Wars: Inside the Thom Browne vs Adidas Trademark Case

We look at the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to dismiss the trade mark infringement complaint from adidas in its entirety.

Intellectual Property

Sunrise over the Unified Patent Court: Steps to take now if you own patents in Europe

The 'sunrise' period for the new European Unified Patent Court (UPC) started on 1 March 2023. The UPC represents the biggest change to European patent practice for nearly 50 years. Parties will be able to start infringement and revocation actions in the UPC from 1 June 2023.

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Artificial intelligence

Developers can now let an AI assistant write code for them - but what are the IP implications?

A year after its announcement, GitHub Copilot was launched last month to the public at large. The tool promises to "fundamentally change the nature of software development" by providing AI-based coding suggestions, saving developers time and effort. What are the intellectual property implications for those who build or buy software created using Copilot?

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Sport & gaming

The ultimate loot drop: the Netherlands is planning to ban loot boxes in video games

Will the Netherlands become the next European country after Belgium to ban loot boxes? We look at what loot boxes are, and why they want to ban them.

Artificial intelligence

Trouble in the cockpit? Popular AI tool faces class action lawsuit

A lawsuit against the companies behind an AO coding tool has been filed in California. The complaint alleges that GitHub, Microsoft (which owns GitHub) and OpenAI (the AI lab responsible for ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and GPT-3) have violated the rights of individuals who have posted their code to public GitHub repo. We look at the arguments and possible defences.

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Healthtech

UK Government Proposes New Legislation for Gene-Edited Food

On 25 May 2022, the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill was introduced before the UK Parliament in a move to "cut the red tape" on the development of gene-editing technology, and to position the UK as a world-leader for investment in agri-food research and innovation. The Bill provides for gene-edited food crops to be developed, grown and sold in England. The intention is for the legislation to eventually extend to animals (excluding humans), but only once a satisfactory regulatory regime is developed to ensure safeguarding of animal welfare.

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Iconic British TV character 'Del Boy' considered a literary work in landmark UK judgment

Things aren't so "cushty" for parody dining experience company as the fictional character "Del Boy" from Only Fools and Horses is considered a literary work, and therefore protected by copyright, in a significant UK judgment

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Intellectual Property

NFTs – An Introduction and Some Key Intellectual Property Considerations

According to nonfungible.com, the global non-fungible token (NFT) market was estimated to be worth around $16.8 billion in 2021. Demand for NFTs is expected to continue to grow as a host of brands, including the likes of Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Gucci and Clinique, seek to capitalise on the NFT explosion. In this article, we explore some of the key intellectual property considerations relating to NFTs.

Webinar

Managing AI in an evolving legal landscape webinar

How do you manange AI in an evolving legal landscape? In this webinar our experts: examined recent legal developments in a number of jurisdiction; considered key issues affecting the successful deployment and management of AI and machine learning; looked ahead to expected changes to relevant regulatory regimes; and discussed what businesses can do to prepare.

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Global Intellectual Property Updates Blog

Our IP teams around the globe are highly dedicated to collecting, summarising and contextualising the constant flow of new information on patents, trademarks, copyright, know-how and other areas related to IP protection for you. We also keep you up to date with the latest court decisions, legislation and the impact of technological innovations like blockchain, artificial intelligence or Internet of Things.

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Intellectual Property

The difficulties and risks associated with transferring social media accounts

A strong social media presence can add a great deal of value to a brand and is now a key marketing strategy for many businesses. For some companies, their social media presence has even become one of their most valuable assets. We look at the importance of protecting a key marketing asset

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Sport & gaming

Level Up: A legal guide to the video games industry

Our all-in-one legal guide for those that currently operate in or are considering entering the video games industry with the purpose of providing an overview of the life cycle of a video game

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Focus on AI & IP

Intellectual Property

AI and Patents – "the person skilled in the art"

Or AI and the State of the Art

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Intellectual Property

EPO rules only humans can be inventors – another blow to DABUS AI patents

The European Patent Office (EPO) Legal Board of Appeal announced its decision to dismiss the appeal in cases J 8/20 and J 9/20, confirming the EPO's Receiving Section decisions that rejected two patent applications in which an artificial intelligence (AI) system was designated as the inventor.

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Artificial intelligence

AI and IP

One step forward for harmonizing a legal framework in Europe

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EVENT: 18 April: Navigating cybersecurity and resilience in 2024 (online)

The global trend towards increased cybersecurity and resilience regulation will tighten existing requirements and affect a broader range of businesses than ever before. From updates in SEC and NYDFS cyber requirements, to Singapore’s proposed Cybersecurity Amendment Bill, our global panel will examine developments in the US, APAC, Europe and the Middle East

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