Intellectual property is our bedrock; Daily Journal, May 17, 2025

 Phil Kerpen, Daily Journal; Intellectual property is our bedrock

"Elon Musk is probably the second-most powerful man in the world these days, so when he responded to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s “delete all IP law” post with “I agree,” we need to take this radical proposal seriously.

Musk and Dorsey want their AI bots to remix all the world’s content without having to worry about who owns it, but it’s important that we slow down and start from first principles, or we risk undermining one of the foundations of our Constitution and economic system.

The moral case for IP was already powerfully articulated prior to American independence by John Locke. In his 1694 memorandum opposing the renewal of the Licensing Act, Locke wrote: “Books seem to me to be the most proper thing for a man to have a property in of any thing that is the product of his mind,” which is no doubt equally true of more modern creative works. Unlike physical property, which is a mixture of an individual’s work effort and the pre-existing natural world, creative works are the pure creation of the human mind. How could they not then properly be owned by their authors?

The Constitution cements this truth. Article I, Section 8 empowers Congress “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” This clause isn’t incidental; it’s a deliberate choice to recognize inventors and authors properly have a property right in their creations and is the only right expressly protected in the base text of the Constitution, before the Bill of Rights was added...

Deleting all IP law is like banning free speech to stop misinformation — it might narrowly accomplish its goal, but only by destroying what we ought to be protecting."

Opt out or get scraped: UK’s AI copyright shake-up has Elton John, Dua Lipa fighting back; CNBC, May 12, 2025

Ryan Browne , CNBC; Opt out or get scraped: UK’s AI copyright shake-up has Elton John, Dua Lipa fighting back

"Celebrity musicians from Elton John to Dua Lipa are urging the U.K. government to rethink controversial plans to reform copyright laws that allow artificial intelligence developers access to rights-protected content.

An open letter signed by John, Lipa and a host of other high-profile artists, this weekend called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to back an amendment proposed by U.K. lawmaker Beeban Kidron to make the legal framework around AI model makers’ use of copyrighted content more strict.

“We are wealth creators, we reflect and promote the national stories, we are the innovators of the future, and AI needs us as much as it needs energy and computer skills,” they said in the letter.

“We will lose an immense growth opportunity if we give our work away at the behest of a handful of powerful overseas tech companies.”"

World Intellectual Property Day, 2025; The White House, April 26, 2025

The White House; World Intellectual Property Day, 2025

 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 
A PROCLAMATION

       More than 200 years ago, our Founding Fathers recognized the profound importance of intellectual property, enshrining government-granted legal protections in the Constitution to safeguard American innovation.  On World Intellectual Property Day, we renew our resolve to protect and secure the creative triumphs of American inventors and artists as they work to pull the future into the present and turn their dreams into our reality.
     Americans have always been leaders in the realms of technology and ideas — and under my Administration, we are driving innovation in every sector, including emerging digital technologies like artificial intelligence.  I recently signed an Executive Order on Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence to slash red tape and ensure our continued leadership in this and other critical industries like automation, blockchain, data analytics, and cybersecurity.
     For this reason, I established the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which is bringing together the best and brightest to shape the United States’ innovation policy and ensure our continued technological leadership.  My Administration will not waver in protecting and securing emerging, next-generation technologies that will drive progress and growth in the 21st century.
     My Administration is taking strong action to protect the promise of American innovation.  For too long, our adversaries and allies alike have sapped our strength and exploited American advancements.  Through the strategic use of tariffs, we are recentering our trade policy and securing stronger intellectual property protections in new and existing trade deals.  Just as we protect our physical property, we will not tolerate the theft of our intellectual property, and we will defend our businesses and people from those who are seeking to steal American jobs and wealth.
     As President Calvin Coolidge once said in an immortal maxim that remains true to this day, “The business of America is business.”  Our economy is the greatest in the world because we, more than any other country, incentivize individuals to dream big, take risks, and make the impossible possible.  Through our promotion and protection of intellectual property, we are empowering musicians, writers, authors, scientists, and inventors to focus on what they do best.
     The future of our great Nation depends on the continued safeguarding of our intellectual property, which fuels economic growth, technological progress, and global competitiveness.  This World Intellectual Property Day, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to protecting and promoting the innovative spirit that continues to make America great.
     NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 26, 2025, as World Intellectual Property Day.  I encourage Americans to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of our creators and inventors and the contributions they have made and will continue making to our country.
     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-ninth.

DONALD J. TRUMP"

AI and the visual arts: The case for copyright protection; Brookings, April 18, 2025

Judy Wang and  Nicol Turner Lee , Brookings; AI and the visual arts: The case for copyright protection

"Looking ahead  

As AI-generated art continues to reshape the creative landscape, the legal and economic challenges surrounding copyright, authorship, and enforcement will only grow more complex. Ongoing lawsuits, reactions from artists, and market shifts highlight the struggle to define human authorship and protect artists’ rights in an era where AI-generated works hold significant commercial value, but lack clear copyright protections. With increasing pressure on legislative and regulatory bodies to address these issues, the future of AI-generated art will depend on policies that balance innovation with fair compensation and safeguards for human creativity.  

While we await the final part of the Copyright Office’s report, which will determine the legal implications of training AI on copyrighted data, the more pressing determinant of fair use in GenAI training may come from the courts. Yet, regardless of the outcome, the Copyright Office should transcend its passive regulatory guidance and actively develop new mechanisms to distinguish human-authored elements from AI-generated ones to enforce its present guidance. In addition, the office must think creatively about flexible frameworks that can account for future, more nuanced and complex modes of collaboration between human and GenAI systems. This may require stronger disclosure requirements, improved detection methods, and a reexamination of what constitutes meaningful human authorship in an increasing AI-involved creative process.   

Further, artists, tech companies, and policymakers must be brought to the table to ensure copyright law reflects the newest collaborations in AI and art, protects human creativity, and accommodates technological progress. Without safeguards, the rapid influx of AI into the art market could lead to a systemic devaluation of human original authorship and growing precarity in the creative field. The future of AI-generated art hinges on such governance. "

AI and Copyright: Expanding Copyright Hurts Everyone—Here’s What to Do Instead; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), February 19, 2025

TORI NOBLE, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); AI and Copyright: Expanding Copyright Hurts Everyone—Here’s What to Do Instead

[Kip Currier: No, not everyone. Not requiring Big Tech to figure out a way to fairly license or get permission to use the copyrighted works of creators unjustly advantages these deep pocketed corporations. It also inequitably disadvantages the economic and creative interests of the human beings who labor to create copyrightable content -- authors, songwriters, visual artists, and many others.

The tell is that many of these same Big Tech companies are only too willing to file copyright infringement lawsuits against anyone whom they allege is infringing their AI content to create competing products and services.]

[Excerpt]

"Threats to Socially Valuable Research and Innovation 

Requiring researchers to license fair uses of AI training data could make socially valuable research based on machine learning (ML) and even text and data mining (TDM) prohibitively complicated and expensive, if not impossible. Researchers have relied on fair use to conduct TDM research for a decade, leading to important advancements in myriad fields. However, licensing the vast quantity of works that high-quality TDM research requires is frequently cost-prohibitive and practically infeasible.  

Fair use protects ML and TDM research for good reason. Without fair use, copyright would hinder important scientific advancements that benefit all of us. Empirical studies back this up: research using TDM methodologies are more common in countries that protect TDM research from copyright control; in countries that don’t, copyright restrictions stymie beneficial research. It’s easy to see why: it would be impossible to identify and negotiate with millions of different copyright owners to analyze, say, text from the internet."

The US Copyright Office's new ruling on AI art is here - and it could change everything; ZDNet, February 3, 2025

David Gewirtz, Senior Contributing Editor, ZDNet; The US Copyright Office's new ruling on AI art is here - and it could change everything

"Last week, the US Copyright Office released its detailed report and comprehensive guidelines on the issue of copyright protection and AI-generated work.

For a government legal document, it is a fascinating exploration of the intersection of artificial intelligence and the very concept of authorship and creativity. The study's authors conduct a deep dive, taking in comments from the general public and experts alike, and producing an analysis of what it means to creatively author a work.

They then explore the issue of whether an AI-generated work versus an AI-assisted work is subject to copyright protection, and what that means not only for individual authors but also for the encouragement of creativity and innovation in society as a whole.

This is the second of what will be a three-part report from the Copyright Office. Part 1, published last year, explored digital replicas, using digital technology to "realistically replicate" someone's voice or appearance.

Part 3 is expected to be released later this year. It will focus on the issues of training AIs using copyrighted works, aspects of licensing, and how liability might be allocated in cases where a spectacular AI failure can be attributed to training (which sometimes results in litigation)."

Congress Must Change Copyright Law for AI | Opinion; Newsweek, January 16, 2025

Nicholas Creel  Assistant Professor of Business Law, Georgia College and State University , Newsweek; Congress Must Change Copyright Law for AI | Opinion

"Luckily, the Constitution points the way forward. In Article I, Section 8, Congress is explicitly empowered "to promote the Progress of Science" through copyright law. That is to say, the power to create copyrights isn't just about protecting content creators, it's also about advancing human knowledge and innovation.

When the Founders gave Congress this power, they couldn't have imagined artificial intelligence, but they clearly understood that intellectual property laws would need to evolve to promote scientific progress. Congress therefore not only has the authority to adapt copyright law for the AI age, it has the duty to ensure our intellectual property framework promotes rather than hinders technological progress.

Consider what's at risk with inaction...

While American companies are struggling with copyright constraints, China is racing ahead with AI development, unencumbered by such concerns. The Chinese Communist Party has made it clear that they view AI supremacy as a key strategic goal, and they're not going to let intellectual property rights stand in their way.

The choice before us is clear, we can either reform our copyright laws to enable responsible AI development at home or we can watch as the future of AI is shaped by authoritarian powers abroad. The cost of inaction isn't just measured in lost innovation or economic opportunity, it is measured in our diminishing ability to ensure AI develops in alignment with democratic values and a respect for human rights.

The ideal solution here isn't to abandon copyright protection entirely, but to craft a careful exemption for AI training. This could even include provisions for compensating content creators through a mandated licensing framework or revenue-sharing system, ensuring that AI companies can access the data they need while creators can still benefit from and be credited for their work's use in training these models.

Critics will argue that this represents a taking from creators for the benefit of tech companies, but this misses the broader picture. The benefits of AI development flow not just to tech companies but to society as a whole. We should recognize that allowing AI models to learn from human knowledge serves a crucial public good, one we're at risk of losing if Congress doesn't act."

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. "

While the Court Fights Over AI and Copyright Continue, Congress and States Focus On Digital Replicas: 2024 in Review; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), December 27, 2024

CORYNNE MCSHERRY, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) ; While the Court Fights Over AI and Copyright Continue, Congress and States Focus On Digital Replicas: 2024 in Review

"These state laws are a done deal, so we’ll just have to see how they play out. At the federal level, however, we still have a chance to steer policymakers in the right direction.  

We get it–everyone should be able to prevent unfair and deceptive commercial exploitation of their personas. But expanded property rights are not the way to do it. If Congress really wants to protect performers and ordinary people from deceptive or exploitative uses of their images and voice, it should take a precise, careful and practical approach that avoids potential collateral damage to free expression, competition, and innovation."

How Hallucinatory A.I. Helps Science Dream Up Big Breakthroughs; The New York Times, December 23, 2024

 William J. Broad, The New York Times; How Hallucinatory A.I. Helps Science Dream Up Big Breakthroughs

"In the universe of science, however, innovators are finding that A.I. hallucinations can be remarkably useful. The smart machines, it turns out, are dreaming up riots of unrealities that help scientists track cancer, design drugs, invent medical devices, uncover weather phenomena and even win the Nobel Prize.

“The public thinks it’s all bad,” said Amy McGovern, a computer scientist who directs a federal A.I. institute. “But it’s actually giving scientists new ideas. It’s giving them the chance to explore ideas they might not have thought about otherwise.”

The public image of science is coolly analytic. Less visibly, the early stages of discovery can teem with hunches and wild guesswork. “Anything goes” is how Paul Feyerabend, a philosopher of science, once characterized the free-for-all.

Now, A.I. hallucinations are reinvigorating the creative side of science. They speed the process by which scientists and inventors dream up new ideas and test them to see if reality concurs. It’s the scientific method — only supercharged. What once took years can now be done in days, hours and minutes. In some cases, the accelerated cycles of inquiry help scientists open new frontiers."

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."

The Heart of the Matter: Copyright, AI Training, and LLMs; SSRN, November 1, 2024

Daniel J. Gervais, Vanderbilt University - Law School

Noam Shemtov, Queen Mary University of London, Centre for Commercial Law Studies

Haralambos Marmanis, Copyright Clearance Center

Catherine Zaller Rowland, Copyright Clearance Center 

SSRN; The Heart of the Matter: Copyright, AI Training, and LLMs

"Abstract

This article explores the intricate intersection of copyright law and large language models (LLMs), a cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology that has rapidly gained prominence. The authors provide a comprehensive analysis of the copyright implications arising from the training, fine-tuning, and use of LLMs, which often involve the ingestion of vast amounts of copyrighted material. The paper begins by elucidating the technical aspects of LLMs, including tokenization, word embeddings, and the various stages of LLM development. This technical foundation is crucial for understanding the subsequent legal analysis. The authors then delve into the copyright law aspects, examining potential infringement issues related to both inputs and outputs of LLMs. A comparative legal analysis is presented, focusing on the United States, European Union, United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, and Switzerland. The article scrutinizes relevant copyright exceptions and limitations in these jurisdictions, including fair use in the US and text and data mining exceptions in the EU. The authors highlight the uncertainties and challenges in applying these legal concepts to LLMs, particularly in light of recent court decisions and legislative developments. The paper also addresses the potential impact of the EU's AI Act on copyright considerations, including its extraterritorial effects. Furthermore, it explores the concept of "making available" in the context of LLMs and its implications for copyright infringement. Recognizing the legal uncertainties and the need for a balanced approach that fosters both innovation and copyright protection, the authors propose licensing as a key solution. They advocate for a combination of direct and collective licensing models to provide a practical framework for the responsible use of copyrighted materials in AI systems.

This article offers valuable insights for legal scholars, policymakers, and industry professionals grappling with the copyright challenges posed by LLMs. It contributes to the ongoing dialogue on adapting copyright law to technological advancements while maintaining its fundamental purpose of incentivizing creativity and innovation."

US Trademark Office cancels Marvel, DC's 'Super Hero' marks; Reuters, September 26, 2024

Blake Brittain , Reuters; US Trademark Office cancels Marvel, DC's 'Super Hero' marks

"A U.S. Trademark Office tribunal has canceled a set of "Super Hero" trademarks jointly owned by comic giants Marvel and DC at the request of a London-based comic book artist, according to a Thursday order.

The USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board ruled for S.J. Richold's Superbabies Ltd after Disney's Marvel and Warner Bros' DC did not file an answer to Superbabies' request to invalidate the marks.

Spokespeople and attorneys for Marvel and DC did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Superbabies attorney Adam Adler of Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg said in a statement that the ruling was "not just a win for our client but a victory for creativity and innovation."

"By establishing SUPER HEROES' place in the public domain, we safeguard it as a symbol of heroism available to all storytellers," Adler said."

USPTO issues AI subject matter eligibility guidance; United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), July 16, 2024

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ; USPTO issues AI subject matter eligibility guidance

"The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a guidance update on patent subject matter eligibility to address innovation in critical and emerging technologies, including in artificial intelligence (AI). This guidance update will assist USPTO personnel and stakeholders in determining subject matter eligibility under patent law (35 § U.S.C. 101) of AI inventions. This latest update builds on previous guidance by providing further clarity and consistency to how the USPTO and applicants should evaluate subject matter eligibility of claims in patent applications and patents involving inventions related to AI technology. The guidance update also announces three new examples of how to apply this guidance throughout a wide range of technologies. 

The guidance update, which goes into effect on July 17, 2024, provides a background on the USPTO’s efforts related to AI and subject matter eligibility, an overview of the USPTO’s patent subject matter eligibility guidance, and additional discussion on certain areas of the guidance that are particularly relevant to AI inventions, including discussions of Federal Circuit decisions on subject matter eligibility. 

“The USPTO remains committed to fostering and protecting innovation in critical and emerging technologies, including AI,” said Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO. “We look forward to hearing public feedback on this guidance update, which will provide further clarity on evaluating subject matter eligibility of AI inventions while incentivizing innovations needed to solve world and community problems.” 

The three new examples provide additional analyses under 35 § U.S.C. 101 of hypothetical claims in certain situations to address particular inquiries, such as whether a claim recites an abstract idea or whether a claim integrates the abstract idea into a practical application. They are intended to assist USPTO personnel in applying the USPTO’s subject matter eligibility guidance to AI inventions during patent examination, appeal, and post-grant proceedings. The examples are available on our AI-related resources webpage and our patent eligibility page on our website.  

The USPTO continues to be directly involved in the development of legal and policy measures related to the impact of AI on all forms of intellectual property. The guidance update delivers on the USPTO’s obligations under the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence o provide guidance to examiners and the public on the impact of AI and issues at the intersection of AI and IP, including patent subject matter eligibility. This follows our announcement earlier this year on Inventorship guidance for AI-assisted inventions, as well as AI guidance for practitioners and a request for comments on the impact of AI on certain patentability considerations, including what qualifies as prior art and the assessment of the level of ordinary skills in the art (comments accepted until July 29, 2024). 

The full text of the guidance update on patent subject matter eligibility is available on our Latest AI news and reports webpageand the corresponding examples are available on our AI-related resources webpage. The USPTO will accept public comments on the guidance update and the examples through September 16, 2024. Please see the Federal Register Notice for instructions on submitting comments."

Pitt’s national patent ranking improved to No. 14 in 2023; PittWire, June 4, 2024

Mike Yeomans , PittWire; Pitt’s national patent ranking improved to No. 14 in 2023

"Innovators at the University of Pittsburgh received 114 U.S. patents in 2023, up from 105 the year before. Their efforts earned Pitt a No. 14 ranking for utility patents granted among universities nationally, according to a list the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) published in June. 

NAI has published the Top 100 Worldwide Universities list each year since 2013, and last year the organization added the U.S. ranking. Pitt is ranked No. 19 on the global list.

Pitt inventors can find support for bringing their ideas to life at every step of the process in the Office of Innovation and Entrpreneurship (OIE), which tracks patents issued each month and offers commercialization resources, sessions with experts in residence and funding opportunities to the University community...

The Top 100 U.S. Universities list is meant to provide a more focused view of the national innovation landscape and the contributions made by U.S. academic institutions. Pitt ranks just behind the University of Pennsylvania, which earned 119 patents, and ahead of Northwestern University (108 patents), Cornell University (94 patents) and Duke University (92 patents)."

Will the rise of AI spell the end of intellectual property rights?; The Globe and Mail, May 27, 2024

SHEEMA KHAN , The Globe and Mail; Will the rise of AI spell the end of intellectual property rights?

"AI’s first challenge to IP is in the inputs...

Perhaps the question will become: Will IP be the death of AI?...

The second challenge relates to who owns the AI-generated products...

Yet IP rights are key to innovation, as they provide a limited monopoly to monetize investments in research and development. AI represents an existential threat in this regard.

Clearly, the law has not caught up. But sitting idly by is not an option, as there are too many important policy issues at play."

The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act of 2024: Balancing Innovation and IP Rights; The National Law Review, May 13, 2024

 Danner Kline of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, The National Law Review; The Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act of 2024: Balancing Innovation and IP Rights

"As generative AI systems become increasingly sophisticated and widespread, concerns around the use of copyrighted works in their training data continue to intensify. The proposed Generative AI Copyright Disclosure Act of 2024 attempts to address this unease by introducing new transparency requirements for AI developers.

The Bill’s Purpose and Requirements

The primary goal of the bill is to ensure that copyright owners have visibility into whether their intellectual property is being used to train generative AI models. If enacted, the law would require companies to submit notices to the U.S. Copyright Office detailing the copyrighted works used in their AI training datasets. These notices would need to be filed within 30 days before or after the public release of a generative AI system.

The Copyright Office would then maintain a public database of these notices, allowing creators to search and see if their works have been included. The hope is that this transparency will help copyright holders make more informed decisions about licensing their IP and seeking compensation where appropriate."

AI and inventorship guidance: Incentivizing human ingenuity and investment in AI-assisted inventions; United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), February 12, 2024

Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ; Director's Blog: the latest from USPTO leadership

AI and inventorship guidance: Incentivizing human ingenuity and investment in AI-assisted inventions

"Today, based on the exceptional public feedback we’ve received, we announced our Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions in the Federal Register – the first of these directives. The guidance, which is effective on February 13, 2024, provides instructions to examiners and stakeholders on how to determine whether the human contribution to an innovation is significant enough to qualify for a patent when AI also contributed. The guidance embraces the use of AI in innovation and provides that AI-assisted inventions are not categorically unpatentable. The guidance instructs examiners on how to determine the correct inventor(s) to be named in a patent or patent application for inventions created by humans with the assistance of one or more AI systems. Additionally, we’ve posted specific examples of hypothetical situations and how the guidance would apply to those situations to further assist our examiners and applicants in their understanding."

Inventorship guidance for AI-assisted inventions webinar; United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), March 5, 2024 1 PM - 2 PM ET

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ; Inventorship guidance for AI-assisted inventions webinar

"The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) plays an important role in incentivizing and protecting innovation, including innovation enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), to ensure continued U.S. leadership in AI and other emerging technologies (ET).

The USPTO announced Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions in the Federal Register. This guidance is pursuant to President Biden's Executive Order 14110 on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (October 30, 2023) with provisions addressing IP equities. The guidance, which is effective on February 13, 2024, provides instructions to USPTO personnel and stakeholders on determining the correct inventor(s) to be named in a patent or patent application for inventions created by humans with the assistance of one or more AI systems. 

The USPTO will host a webinar on Inventorship Guidance for AI-Assisted Inventions on Tuesday, March 5, from 1-2 p.m. EST. USPTO personnel will provide an overview of the guidance and answer stakeholder questions relating to the guidance.

This event is free and open to the public, but virtual space is limited, so please register early."

EU countries strike deal on landmark AI rulebook; Politico, February 2, 2024

 GIAN VOLPICELLI, Politico ; EU countries strike deal on landmark AI rulebook

"European Union member countries on Friday unanimously reached a deal on the bloc’s Artificial Intelligence Act, overcoming last-minute fears that the rulebook would stifle European innovation.

EU deputy ambassadors green-lighted the final compromise text, hashed out following lengthy negotiations between representatives of the Council, members of the European Parliament and European Commission officials...

Over the past few weeks, the bloc’s top economies Germany and France, alongside Austria, hinted that they might oppose the text in Friday’s vote...

Eventually, the matter was resolved through the EU’s familiar blend of PR offensive and diplomatic maneuvering. The Commission ramped up the pressure by announcing a splashy package of pro-innovation measures targeting the AI sector, and in one fell swoop created the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Office — a body tasked with enforcing the AI Act...

A spokesperson for German Digital Minister Volker Wissing, the foremost AI Act skeptic within Germany’s coalition government, told POLITICO: "We asked the EU Commission to clarify that the AI Act does not apply to the use of AI in medical devices.".

A statement the European Commission, circulated among EU diplomats ahead of the vote and seen by POLITICO, reveals plans to set up an “expert group” comprising  EU member countries’ authorities. The group’s function will be to “ advise and assist” the Commission in applying and implementing the AI Act...

The AI Act still needs the formal approval of the European Parliament. The text is slated to get rubber-stamped at the committee level in two weeks, with a plenary vote expected in April."