intellectual property – Duane Morris TechLaw

March 24, 2025March 26, 2025 by Duane Morris

Artificial Intelligence, the Copyright Act and Animal Law

On March 18. 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that a work created with artificial intelligence (AI) using a machine cannot be registered in the name of the machine itself because the Copyright Act requires that a copyright owner be a human being. Thaler v. Perlmutter, No. 23-5233 (D.C. Cir. Mar. 18, 2025).

In fact, the D.C. Circuit made a specific connection to animal law by citing the decision in Naruto v. Slater, 888 F.3d 418 (9th Cir. 2018), in which the Ninth Circuit held that a monkey cannot be an “author” under the Copyright Act. And, like Thaler, animal rights groups have tried to base their arguments on dictionary definitions. Read more on the Animal Law Developments Blog.

March 13, 2025March 13, 2025 by Duane Morris

Artificial Intelligence Tools and Copyright Infringement Issues During the Training Process

Duane Morris attorneys Jennifer Lantz, Jeremy Elman and Max DiBaise authored the Bloomberg Law article, “Generative AI Training Case Flags Competition as Major Factor,” exploring what the Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence decision’s novel application of the “fair use” defense of copyright law means for generative AI training.

Companies must be mindful of the ultimate purpose of new artificial intelligence tools to avoid running into copyright infringement issues during the training process. If widely adopted, the Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence decision suggests “intermediate copying” cases are unlikely to provide a strong defense when the final output of a tool mirrors the products it was trained on. Accordingly, the key question is likely to what extent the AI system is competing with the underlying copyrighted work. The further away the system is, the more likely it is to be protected under the fair-use doctrine. Read the full article on the Bloomberg Law website.

December 5, 2024 by Duane Morris

Webinar: Artificial Intelligence and Data Licensing

Duane Morris’ Technology Transactions, Licensing and Commercial Contracts Group presents a webinar, Understanding Data Licensing in the World of AI, to be held on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

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As we head into 2025, more and more of our clients are negotiating data licensing agreements and asking for assistance in understanding a company’s rights regarding data. This webinar will review intellectual property rights with regard to data, the frequent use and terms of creative commons licenses with datasets, and important and commonly negotiated terms in data licensing agreements, with our attorneys providing thoughts on these issues and how they relate to AI. Learn more.

September 23, 2024September 23, 2024 by Duane Morris

How Copyright Law Regards Artificial Intelligence

Duane Morris partner Agatha Liu is quoted in the Bloomberg Law article, “AI Art Appeal’s Procedural Flaws Put Broader Ruling in Doubt.”

An appeals court panel’s focus on procedural issues in a case involving efforts to copyright AI-generated work left attorneys concerned the judges may sidestep larger questions about how copyright law regards the emerging technology. […]

“The point of copyright protection is it should reward creativity. It should be associated with a human being, not a machine,” said Liu. “But there’s merit in claiming the creator of the machine being an author.”

Read the full article on the Bloomberg Law website.

July 10, 2024 by Duane Morris

The Age of Artificial Intelligence and Commercial Transactions

The pervasiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the commercial transactions landscape. Providers across industries are looking to utilize third-party AI tools, or utilize customer data to train AI models, in connection with providing services or implementing use cases proposed by their customers to create efficiencies and cost savings. The intellectual property (IP) stakes are heightened, and parties on either side of a transaction will need to carefully leverage agreements to maintain IP rights in their own data, secure IP rights in resulting products, and protect themselves against claims of infringement.

Read the full Landslide article by Duane Morris’ Ariel Seidner. (ABA membership required.)

November 17, 2023November 16, 2023 by Duane Morris

Webinar Replay: Strategic Contracting to Reduce Risk in AI

A webinar replay of the Get Smart with AI webinar series session Strategic Contracting to Reduce Risk is now available.

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November 1, 2023November 16, 2023 by Duane Morris

Webinar: Strategic Contracting to Reduce Risk in AI

Duane Morris will present the next session in the Get Smart with AI webinar series, Strategic Contracting to Reduce Risk, a Zoom webinar on risk mitigation strategies for AI use in business, on Wednesday, November 15, 2023, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time.

For more information and to register, visit the Duane Morris website.