Artificial Intelligence: Intellectual Property Policy Considerations

 

Artificial Intelligence: Intellectual Property Policy Considerations

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to produce a new wave of innovation and creativity. At the same time, it poses novel challenges and opportunities for intellectual property (IP) policy, such as:

  • How is AI being used to enforce IP rights, protect inventions, and create new business models?
  • How will AI alter the management and organization of research, innovation, and commercialization?
  • What are the copyright implications when AI is used to create new works or when copyrighted works are used to “train” artificial intelligence systems?
  • How will AI affect trademark protection and branding?
  • These and similar critical questions about AI and IP will be examined at this all-day conference organized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It will bring together leading thinkers, policy makers, academics, and practitioners to examine the growing capabilities of AI, its potential economic impacts, and implications for IP policy and law.

USPTO Director Andrei Iancu will deliver opening remarks. An exhibit featuring booths from a number of companies and institutions showcasing their AI technologies will run concurrently with the conference.

Agenda

Six panels featuring IP specialists from around the world — including experts from the United States, Canada, China, and Europe — will consider the topics listed below. The full agenda can be viewed here

  • Economic frameworks and impacts:  How will AI impact how we innovate and create, produce and deliver new products and services, and work and engage with one another? How might the new tools and insights offered by AI improve our ability to recommend and assess changes to IP policy?
  • Patents and Trade Secrets:  How can AI-related inventions be protected? What are the challenges that inventors and rights-holders face, whether they are a Fortune 500 company, a start-up, or a nonprofit?
  • Trademarks:  Will AI change the likelihood of confusion and liability? How will it impact branding of products and the protection of trademarks?
  • Copyright: Who is the author of AI-generated content? Are such works copyrightable? What policy implications arise from the use of copyrighted works for the purposes of machine learning?
  • IP enforcement:  Counterfeit goods make up an estimated $461 billion or 2.5 percent of all global trade. How is AI improving counterfeit detection? And how can we leverage new technologies to solve this age-old problem?
  • International perspectives:  How are other major economies addressing AI, and in what ways do they differ from the U.S. approach? How do those differences matter to U.S. companies and researchers?

 

Exhibitors:

The following companies will have exhibits showcasing AI technologies during the conference. Click on the company name to view a description of their display.

Accessibility and additional information:

This event is accessible to individuals with disabilities. To inquire about or request accommodations, or for non-press inquiries, please contact Kortney Hammonds at the USPTO’s Office of Policy and International Affairs, telephone (571) 272-1626.