Intellectual property

Innovation and creativity are at the heart of artificial intelligence. This means that intellectual property issues will play a crucial role in driving the success and commercial uptake of the technology as well as in defining the broader AI landscape. A key characteristic of AI systems is that they are trained on large volumes of data and other content and so there are important considerations regarding legitimate access and use of third party IP. Similarly, there are complex questions around whether and to what extent the outputs from AI systems may infringe the IP rights of others. Those making investments in R&D will also want to ensure that they have adequate control and protections over the resulting IP and are able to effectively exploit it for commercial gain. This is often not a straightforward task given that different aspects of AI systems may be protected under different IP systems and each of these give rise to various novel and interesting challenges.

The importance of a holistic and effective IP strategy therefore cannot be understated. This will be particularly important when it comes to developing strategies for:

• IP protection to provide market exclusivity and a competitive advantage;
• tailored licensing approaches to enable exploitation of the IP; and
• conducting diligence in a sophisticated and nuanced fashioned.

Each of these aspects require careful planning and sound advice. Companies need to therefore think carefully and with a long term view about their IP strategy and how this fits with their overall commercial objectives in generating value and driving investment.