USPTO announces new Artificial Intelligence Strategy to empower responsible implementation of innovation; United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), January 14, 2025

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ; USPTO announces new Artificial Intelligence Strategy to empower responsible implementation of innovation 

"AI Strategy outlines how the USPTO will address AI's impact across IP policy, agency operations, and the broader innovation ecosystem  

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy to guide the agency’s efforts toward fulfilling the potential of AI within USPTO operations and across the intellectual property (IP) ecosystem. The Strategy offers a vision for how the USPTO can foster responsible and inclusive AI innovation, harness AI to support the agency’s mission, and advance a positive future for AI to ensure that the country maintains its leadership in innovation. 

“We have a responsibility to promote, empower, and protect innovation,” said Derrick Brent, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Acting Director of the USPTO. “Developing a strategy to unleash the power of AI while mitigating risks provides a framework to advance innovation and intellectual property.”  

The strategy aims to achieve the USPTO’s AI vision and mission through five focus areas which include: 

1. Advance the development of IP policies that promote inclusive AI innovation and creativity. 
2. Build best-in-class AI capabilities by investing in computational infrastructure, data resources, and business-driven product development. 
3. Promote the responsible use of AI within the USPTO and across the broader innovation ecosystem.
4. Develop AI expertise within the USPTO’s workforce.
5. Collaborate with other U.S. government agencies, international partners, and the public on shared AI priorities.

The USPTO and our sister agencies within the Department of Commerce, as well as the U.S. Copyright Office, are providing critical guidance and recommendations to advance AI-driven innovation and creativity. In 2022, the USPTO created the AI and Emerging Technology (ET) Partnership, which has worked closely with the AI/ET community to gather public feedback through a series of sessions on topics related to AI and innovation, biotech, and intellectual property (IP) policy. Since its 2022 launch, more than 6,000 stakeholders have engaged with us on these critical issues. In addition, the USPTO collaborates across government to advance American leadership in AI by promoting innovation and competition as set forth in the Biden-Harris Administration’s landmark October 2023 AI Executive Order. 

The full text of the AI Strategy can be found on the AI Strategy webpage. Additionalinformation on AI, including USPTO guidance and more on USPTO’s AI/ET Partnership, can be found on our AI webpage. "

Celebrate the grand opening of Kentucky’s newest Patent and Trademark Resource Center; United States Patent and Trademark Center (USPTO), December 19, 2024

United States Patent and Trademark Center (USPTO); Celebrate the grand opening of Kentucky’s newest Patent and Trademark Resource Center

"Kentucky innovators, join us in person on Tuesday, January 7, from 3-6 p.m. ET for the grand opening of the Patent and Trademark Resource Center (PTRC) at the University of Louisville’s Kornhauser Health Sciences Library.  

Celebrate this addition to the innovation community with remarks from USPTO and university leadership and an official ribbon cutting. You’ll learn about the vital role of intellectual property (IP) in Kentucky and the numerous resources available to help innovators protect their IP.  

After the program concludes, join your fellow creators for an informal networking session at the Louisville Thoroughbred Society from 6:30-8 p.m. ET."

AI's assault on our intellectual property must be stopped; Financial Times, December 21, 2024

Kate Mosse, Financial Times; AI's assault on our intellectual property must be stopped

"Imagine my dismay, therefore, to discover that those 15 years of dreaming, researching, planning, writing, rewriting, editing, visiting libraries and archives, translating Occitan texts, hunting down original 13th-century documents, becoming an expert in Catharsis, apparently counts for nothing. Labyrinth is just one of several of my novels that have been scraped by Meta's large language model. This has been done without my consent, without remuneration, without even notification. This is theft...

AI companies present creators as being against change. We are  not. Every artist I know is already engaging with AI in one way or another. But a distinction needs to be made between AI that can be used in brilliant ways -- for example, medical diagnosis -- and the foundations of AI models, where companies are essentially stealing creatives' work for their own profit. We should not forget that the AI companies rely on creators to build their models. Without strong copyright law that ensures creators can earn a living, AI companies will lack the high-quality material that is essential for their future growth."

Pittsburgh has big ideas. One professor is documenting them.; 90.5 WESA, December 24, 2024

 Gavin Petrone  , 90.5 WESA; Pittsburgh has big ideas. One professor is documenting them.

"Heinz ketchup. Mister Rogers’ “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” Smiley cookies.

Pittsburgh professor and author Mike Madison has chronicled these unmistakably Pittsburgh things as part of his Intellectual Property Hall of Fame. He began the project in 2020 during the pandemic — just for fun.

“I really wanted to dig into Pittsburgh history, and make sure that people who might have been more celebrated at an earlier point in time get brought forward, and identified, and celebrated for their careers and their contributions,” he said.

“We've got the boatloads of amazingly creative people in Pittsburgh going back a hundred years. And if my little website can bring just a smidgen of attention to some of that, then I'm happy.”

A University of Pittsburgh professor, Madison focuses on the ways that institutions create and distribute information. In the classroom, topics include intellectual property law and commercial law. He’s the author of more than 60 journal articles and book chapters, and a co-editor of several books.

Tradition is deeply rooted in Pittsburgh’s culture — and that’s evident through the enduring popularity in uniquely Pittsburgh ideas, he said."

Paul McCartney warns AI ‘could take over’ as UK debates copyright laws; The Guardian, December 10, 2024

 Robert Booth UK technology editor, The Guardian; Paul McCartney warns AI ‘could take over’ as UK debates copyright laws

"Paul McCartney has backed calls for laws to stop mass copyright theft by companies building generative artificial intelligence, warning AI “could just take over”.

The former Beatle said it would be “a very sad thing indeed” if young composers and writers could not protect their intellectual property from the rise of algorithmic models, which so far have learned by digesting mountains of copyrighted material.

He spoke out amid growing concern that the rise of AI is threatening income streams for music, news and book publishers. Next week the UK parliament will debate amendments to the data bill that could allow creators to decide whether or not their copyrighted work can be used to train generative AI models."

From exploitation to empowerment: how researchers can protect Indigenous peoples’ rights to own and control their data; Nature, November 27, 2024

Cassandra Sedran-Price, Nature; From exploitation to empowerment: how researchers can protect Indigenous peoples’ rights to own and control their data

"So, what can be done? Indigenous Data Sovereignty, which refers to Indigenous peoples’ rights to own and control Indigenous data, can and should be protected through research practices, including how contracts are written and teams are structured. This right, supported by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), emphasizes the fact that Indigenous peoples should be in the driver’s seat for research that affects us. We should be the decision-makers from the point of conceptualization — from setting the research priorities through to dissemination of the data and ongoing data management, including how they are stored, accessed and used. It is through Indigenous peoples’ involvement that systemic injustices can be broken down, and equity, shared benefits and data protection can be realized.

Researchers and institutions must take the lead in understanding how to develop and implement mechanisms to enact Indigenous data sovereignty, known as Indigenous data governance. An important first step is aligning policies and practices with national and international frameworks and treaties for the protection of Indigenous knowledge and data. The CARE Principles for Indigenous data governance (the acronym stands for Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility and Ethics) for example, were designed to strengthen and uphold Indigenous rights to data, while refocusing data governance to prioritize value-based relationships5.

In Western society, intellectual property (IP) laws offer a means of protection for knowledge and data. These laws can establish ownership and authorship of IP in the form of copyright, trademarks and patents. But they do not fully recognize our lore and experiences as Indigenous peoples, nor the specific forms of Indigenous knowledge and data that may be accessed and shared. This is where research-related agreements, such as contracts and data-sharing agreements, can create greater equity and opportunities to prioritize and support shared power, shared resources, mutual understanding and respect for our cultural protocols."

A Long-Held Secret Is Now Public. Will It Alter Cormac McCarthy’s Legacy?; The New York Times, November 23, 2024

 Alexandra Alter and Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times; A Long-Held Secret Is Now Public. Will It Alter Cormac McCarthy’s Legacy?

"Several scholars also raised questions about the extensive excerpts from McCarthy’s letters to Britt, and noted that while Britt owns the physical letters, McCarthy’s words, even in letters to others, are the intellectual property of his literary estate. Attempts to reach a representative of McCarthy’s literary estate were not successful, but a person with knowledge of the estate’s practices who was not authorized to speak on the record said that the estate did not grant permission for McCarthy’s letters to be reproduced."

What Intellectual Property Policies Should We Expect from the Second Trump Administration?; American Enterprise Institute, November 15, 2024

Michael M. Rosen, American Enterprise Institute ; What Intellectual Property Policies Should We Expect from the Second Trump Administration?

"Days after President-Elect Trump announced numerous conventional cabinet appointments, and several highly idiosyncratic ones, we can be forgiven for throwing our hands up rather than trying to forecast how his new administration will handle the most pressing IP issues. But we can certainly try, based on the limited information we have before us.

1. Legislative patent reform...

2. Artificial intelligence (AI) regulation and IP...

3. Pharmaceutical protection"

NASCAR aware of allegations a team engineer stole intellectual property to give to rival team; AP, October 14, 2024

JENNA FRYER, AP; NASCAR aware of allegations a team engineer stole intellectual property to give to rival team

"NASCAR has acknowledged it is aware of allegations that an engineer for a Cup Series team accessed proprietary information and shared it with another team...

Until a lawsuit is filed or a complaint is lodged with NASCAR, there is nothing the series can do, raising concerns that employees will be able to hand over intellectual property to rivals without ramifications."

Intellectual property and data privacy: the hidden risks of AI; Nature, September 4, 2024

Amanda Heidt , Nature; Intellectual property and data privacy: the hidden risks of AI

"Timothée Poisot, a computational ecologist at the University of Montreal in Canada, has made a successful career out of studying the world’s biodiversity. A guiding principle for his research is that it must be useful, Poisot says, as he hopes it will be later this year, when it joins other work being considered at the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia. “Every piece of science we produce that is looked at by policymakers and stakeholders is both exciting and a little terrifying, since there are real stakes to it,” he says.

But Poisot worries that artificial intelligence (AI) will interfere with the relationship between science and policy in the future. Chatbots such as Microsoft’s Bing, Google’s Gemini and ChatGPT, made by tech firm OpenAI in San Francisco, California, were trained using a corpus of data scraped from the Internet — which probably includes Poisot’s work. But because chatbots don’t often cite the original content in their outputs, authors are stripped of the ability to understand how their work is used and to check the credibility of the AI’s statements. It seems, Poisot says, that unvetted claims produced by chatbots are likely to make their way into consequential meetings such as COP16, where they risk drowning out solid science.

“There’s an expectation that the research and synthesis is being done transparently, but if we start outsourcing those processes to an AI, there’s no way to know who did what and where the information is coming from and who should be credited,” he says...

The technology underlying genAI, which was first developed at public institutions in the 1960s, has now been taken over by private companies, which usually have no incentive to prioritize transparency or open access. As a result, the inner mechanics of genAI chatbots are almost always a black box — a series of algorithms that aren’t fully understood, even by their creators — and attribution of sources is often scrubbed from the output. This makes it nearly impossible to know exactly what has gone into a model’s answer to a prompt. Organizations such as OpenAI have so far asked users to ensure that outputs used in other work do not violate laws, including intellectual-property and copyright regulations, or divulge sensitive information, such as a person’s location, gender, age, ethnicity or contact information. Studies have shown that genAI tools might do both1,2."

A bill to protect performers from unauthorized AI heads to California governor; NPR, August 30, 2024

Mandalit del Barco, NPR; A bill to protect performers from unauthorized AI heads to California governor

"Other proposed guardrails

In addition to AB2602, the performer’s union is backing California bill AB 1836 to protect deceased performers’ intellectual property from digital replicas.

On a national level, entertainment industry stakeholders, from SAG-AFTRA to The Recording Academy and the MPA, and others are supporting The “NO FAKES Act” (the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act) introduced in the Senate. That law would make creating a digital replica of any American illegal.

Around the country, legislators have proposed hundreds of laws to regulate AI more generally. For example, California lawmakers recently passed the Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act (SB 1047), which regulates AI models such as ChatGPT.

“It's vital and it's incredibly urgent because legislation, as we know, takes time, but technology matures exponentially. So we're going to be constantly fighting the battle to stay ahead of this,” said voice performer Zeke Alton, a member of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee. “If we don't get to know what's real and what's fake, that is starting to pick away at the foundations of democracy.”

Alton says in the fight for AI protections of digital doubles, Hollywood performers have been the canary in the coal mine. “We are having this open conversation in the public about generative AI and it and using it to replace the worker instead of having the worker use it as a tool for their own efficiency,” he said. “But it's coming for every other industry, every other worker. That's how big this sea change in technology is. So what happens here is going to reverberate.”"

Controversial California AI regulation bill finds unlikely ally in Elon Musk; The Mercury News, August 28, 2024

 RYAN MACASERO , The Mercury News; Controversial California AI regulation bill finds unlikely ally in Elon Musk

"With a make-or-break deadline just days away, a polarizing bill to regulate the fast-growing artificial intelligence industry from progressive state Sen. Scott Wiener has gained support from an unlikely source.

Elon Musk, the Donald Trump-supporting, often regulation-averse Tesla CEO and X owner, this week said he thinks “California should probably pass” the proposal, which would regulatethe development and deployment of advanced AI models, specifically large-scale AI products costing at least $100 million to build.

The surprising endorsement from a man who also owns an AI company comes as other political heavyweights typically much more aligned with Wiener’s views, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, join major tech companies in urging Sacramento to put on the brakes." 

World Intellectual Property Organization Adopts Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge; WilmerHale, August 26, 2024

• • • Daniel S. Volchok, Thomas G. Saunders, Laura E. Powell, WilmerHale; World Intellectual Property Organization Adopts Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge

"Following nearly twenty-five years of negotiations, members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) recently adopted a treaty implementing the new requirement for international patent applicants to disclose in their applications any Indigenous Peoples and/or communities that provided traditional knowledge on which the applicant drew in creating the invention sought to be patented.1 The treaty was adopted at WIPO’s “Diplomatic Conference to Conclude an International Legal Instrument Relating to Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Traditional Knowledge Associated with Genetic Resources,” which was held May 13–24.2 The goal of the treaty, known as the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge, is to “prevent patents from being granted erroneously for inventions that are not novel or inventive with regard to genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.”3 This treaty—the first treaty of its kind, linking intellectual property and Indigenous Peoples—also aims to “enhance the efficacy, transparency and quality of the patent system with regard to genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.”4 

Once the treaty is ratified, patent applicants will have new (but nonretroactive) disclosure requirements for international patent applications."

Startup using blockchain to prevent copyright theft by AI is valued over $2 billion after fresh funding; CNBC, August 21, 2024

 Ryan Browne, CNBC; Startup using blockchain to prevent copyright theft by AI is valued over $2 billion after fresh funding

"San-Francisco-based startup Story said Wednesday that it raised $80 million of funding for a blockchain designed to prevent artificial intelligence makers like OpenAI from taking creators’ intellectual property without permission."

Meta in Talks to Use Voices of Judi Dench, Awkwafina and Others for A.I.; The New York Times, August 2, 2024

Mike Isaac and Nicole Sperling , The New York Times; Meta in Talks to Use Voices of Judi Dench, Awkwafina and Others for A.I.

"Meta is in discussions with Awkwafina, Judi Dench and other actors and influencers for the right to incorporate their voices into a digital assistant product called MetaAI, according to three people with knowledge of the talks, as the company pushes to build more products that feature artificial intelligence.

Apart from Ms. Dench and Awkwafina, Meta is in talks with the comedian Keegan-Michael Key and other celebrities, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the discussions are private. They added that all of Hollywood’s top talent agencies were involved in negotiations with the tech giant." 

Copyright Office tells Congress: ‘Urgent need’ to outlaw AI-powered impersonation; TechCrunch, July 31, 2024

 Devin Coldewey, TechCrunch; Copyright Office tells Congress: ‘Urgent need’ to outlaw AI-powered impersonation

"The U.S. Copyright Office has issued the first part of a report on how AI may affect its domain, and its first recommendation out of the gate is: we need a new law right away to define and combat AI-powered impersonation

“It has become clear that the distribution of unauthorized digital replicas poses a serious threat not only in the entertainment and political arenas but also for private citizens,” said the agency’s director Shira Perlmutter in a statement accompanying the report. “We believe there is an urgent need for effective nationwide protection against the harms that can be caused to reputations and livelihoods.”

The report itself, part one of several to come, focuses on this timely aspect of AI and intellectual property, which as a concept encompasses your right to control your own identity."

A new tool for copyright holders can show if their work is in AI training data; MIT Technology Review, July 25, 2024

• Melissa Heikkiläarchive page

, MIT Technology Review; A new tool for copyright holders can show if their work is in AI training data

"Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, content creators have argued that their work has been scraped into AI models without their consent. But until now, it has been difficult to know whether specific text has actually been used in a training data set. 

Now they have a new way to prove it: “copyright traps” developed by a team at Imperial College London, pieces of hidden text that allow writers and publishers to subtly mark their work in order to later detect whether it has been used in AI models or not. The idea is similar to traps that have been used by copyright holders throughout history—strategies like including fake locations on a map or fake words in a dictionary. 

These AI copyright traps tap into one of the biggest fights in AI. A number of publishers and writers are in the middle of litigation against tech companies, claiming their intellectual property has been scraped into AI training data sets without their permission. The New York Times’ ongoing case against OpenAI is probably the most high-profile of these.  

The code to generate and detect traps is currently available on GitHub, but the team also intends to build a tool that allows people to generate and insert copyright traps themselves."

Holy See welcomes ‘significant’ new treaty on intellectual property; Vatican News, July 10, 2024

 Joseph Tulloch, Vatican News ; Holy See welcomes ‘significant’ new treaty on intellectual property

"Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, has welcomed a historic new treaty on intellectual property.

In an address to members states of the UN's World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the Archbishop called the treaty a “significant step forward”.

The treaty

WIPO member states adopted the agreement – which regards “Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge – in May of this year.

The treaty establishes a new disclosure requirement in international law for patent applicants whose inventions are based on genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge.

It was the first WIPO treaty in over a decade, as well as the first to evr deal with the genetic resources and traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples."

Public roundtable: AI and protections for use of an individual’s name, image, likeness, or reputation; United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Monday, August 5, 2024 9 AM EDT - 4:30 PM EDT

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); Public roundtable: AI and protections for use of an individual’s name, image, likeness, or reputation

"The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) invites members of the public to a roundtable discussion about the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and legal protections for individuals’ reputations and name, image, voice, likeness (NIL), and other indicators of identity. 

This is your opportunity to provide input on:

• Whether existing legal protections for individuals’ NIL and reputations are sufficient
• How these legal protections intersect with other intellectual property (IP) laws
• How AI technology impacts existing legal protections for NIL and reputation

The feedback received will assist the USPTO’s work to develop IP policy recommendations regarding the intersection of AI and IP, in accordance with the  Executive Order on AI ssued by President Biden in October 2023.

The roundtable will consist of two sessions: A morning in-person session at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and an afternoon virtual session. Both sessions will be livestreamed."

Following Scarlett Johansson Flap, Intellectual Property Expert Talks AI and the Law; UVAToday, June 24, 2024

Josette Corazza, UVAToday ; Following Scarlett Johansson Flap, Intellectual Property Expert Talks AI and the Law

"UVA School of Law professor Dotan Oliar, an expert in intellectual property who teaches art law and copyright, looked at the OpenAI controversies and how artificial intelligence is raising new legal questions and reviving old debates.

Q. What recourse does an actor have when Open AI claims to use a similar voice, but not the actual voice?

A. The “right of publicity” is the relevant body of intellectual property law available to celebrities who believe their voice (or image or likeness) was misappropriated. This is a state, rather than federal, cause of (legal) action and a right now protected in the majority of states, although the scope of protection is not the same everywhere.

In a similar case from 1988, Ford Motor Co. wanted to use Bette Midler’s voice for a commercial, and just like reportedly happened here, Midler declined. Ford went and hired a “sound-alike” person. In a then-precedential ruling, the 9th Circuit Court decided in Midler’s favor and held that a person’s voice was a protected attribute within their right of publicity."