European Parliament: AI should not own IPRs
After MEPs first discussed the draft report of rules for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in may, they have already adopted a first set of EU rules for AI regulation at yesterday’s plenary session.
Iban García del Blanco’s leigslative initiative urges the European Commission to promptly introduce a legislative framework which would regulate AI’s use and development in a way so as to respect the ethical principles and standards and certain legal obligations. The initiative adopted with 559 votes emphasises that future laws must focus primarily on human-made AI, security and transparency, and inclusion of safeguards which will prevent AI bias and discrimination. It is also crucial that the laws allow for human oversight over any self-learning AI technology.
The second legislative initiative was presented by Axel Voss and it called for regulation of civil liability for damages, caused by AI. Legal frameworks will have to introduce legal security as well as incentivise innovations in a way that will see people trust in AI more and by deterring potentially highly-dangerous activities. Initiative adopted with 626 votes also advocates for a type of objective liability of AI operators to be introduced, similar to how use of motor vehicles is regulated.
Finally, the report by Stéphane Séjourné highlighted the importance of having an effective system for intellectual property rights protection and a system of safeguards for protection of innovators’ interests. The report was adopted with 612 votes and in its crucial part it opposes AI having legal personality and therefore AI having ownership of intellectual property rights, which should still only be granted to humans.
In doing so, the EP is the first legislative body to, albeit by way of soft-law, address the issue of AI potentially owning intellectual property rights, and has taken a strong opposing view. It will be interesting to see the reactions to the EP’s legal initiatives, first from the European Commission, and later potentially from national legislators as well.
The Grand Board of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) finally ruled that the figurative sign ‘COVIDIOT’ cannot be registered as an EU trademark.
The 4th Open Knowledge Day took place on Tuesday 17 October 2023, with an accompanying workshop on 18 October 2023. This year it was organised by the Open Data and Intellectual Property Institute (ODIPI) and supported by Knowledge Rights 21 (KR21).
We invite you to the fourth Open Knowledge Day and the workshop, which will take place this year within the framework of the programme and with the support of Knowledge Rights 21. The event will bring together experts from different European countries to discuss two topics: the first part will deal with the legal basis for data analytics, which is a key part of machine learning and related artificial intelligence, and the general exception for research. In the second part, open science in theory and practice will be presented both in Slovenia and in some Western Balkan countries. Representatives of research and educational institutions from Slovenia and the Western Balkan countries, as well as interested members of the public, are invited to attend.
Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič, a renowned expert in copyright law, has joined the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where she will serve as an affiliate researcher for the next two years.