Intellectual property (IP) covers a range of creations, from the digital landscape to physical works. When seeking to protect this property, lawyers and attorneys must use the right technology to assess and sort the data.
Manually, this process can become tedious and slow down the application for a trademark or patent. With artificial intelligence (AI), though, the process becomes more efficient and accurate.
This dynamic can improve how legal professionals go about IP law practices. When you combine newer technologies with traditional laws, you can create a methodical approach to protecting creative properties for every client.
Bringing AI and IP Law Together
Artificial intelligence enables professionals from all backgrounds to simplify complex processes, especially those dealing heavily with data. In the legal realm, the processes of trademarking, copyrighting, and patenting draw from various data — like timestamps, client history, industry notes, and similar creation data.
Manually, the chances of human error when processing this information can lead to overarching inaccuracies in the case. According to a survey, 51% of respondents label human error as a primary cause of IP infringement — which can occur when employees lose files or grant access to the wrong people.
With AI, though, the machine learning algorithms continuously evolve and learn based on the data. They can search through historical data to compare the new IP patent to similar ones and decide if there’s any infringement. Then, lawyers and attorneys can use this data as a licensing resource to build a case for or against a patent.
While AI can assist you with IP law cases, the reverse is also true. IP laws are also critical for AI creations. Since artificial intelligence is such a quickly expanding field, protecting the intellectual property of those who develop the creations is thus more essential than ever.
In an interview with Lawyer Monthly, top patent attorney Nick Transier highlights this expansion and states that “applying models to new technology domains to enable entirely new use cases” is one of the reasons AI patents have increased recently.
In one unique example, the biopharmaceutical industry is seeking to provide more protections for AI drug development. As AI analyzes sets of data and helps professionals develop medicine, that dynamic requires protection — especially as it grows to a $5 billion value by 2024.
Regulating AI
Moving forward, these overlaps of AI and IP cases will increase as the widespread uses of AI grow as well. Still, improvements are always necessary. Specifically, artificial intelligence — because of its rapid growth — requires more regulation to protect users from cyber threats like fraud and breaches.
China is one region moving forward with such regulations. Since the pandemic has increased reliance on technology of all kinds, IP laws have come more into play with new tech innovations continuously emerging. Thus, China is establishing new laws and protocols for AI usage in the country. Having a more rigorous approach to AI will bring about more effective IP laws.
For instance, you can use AI to process claims and patents based on more regulation, which reduces the chance of ethical conflicts. With more AI regulation, you can also better establish credit for the AI innovations, since newer laws should be more specific with how intellectual property dynamics actively apply.
The United States has a similar approach of adding more regulation for AI, focusing on the weakest and most vulnerable points for improvement. Then, with more clarity and guidelines, you can use AI to sort through historical cases and gather data to act on for current patents and trademarks.
Again, Transier touches on the importance of future AI innovation and legal action. He says, “I do think there is a general consensus now that there is a real problem that is affecting real, valuable innovations in the United States, and that it needs solving.” Legal impediments for such innovation require the best care and consideration, starting on a well-regulated playing field.
A Connected Relationship
AI and IP laws mutually affect one another. AI can help law professionals work on IP cases more efficiently and with more accuracy. IP cases can also help clarify how to approach new AI innovations. This dynamic now requires more careful regulation.
Regulation puts forth a clear way to approach AI and IP laws. It shows what’s ethical and what’s not, which ties directly into intellectual property, ownership, and privacy. As countries around the world continue to regulate AI, its relationship with IP will strengthen and evolve for the better.
