Tech & Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis

TECHNOLOGY TRANSACTIONS, OUTSOURCING, AND COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS NEWS FOR LAWYERS AND SOURCING PROFESSIONALS
For many companies with identifiable characters, preserving and extending their copyright protections is a top priority. As of January 1, 2024, several famous works have lost their copyright protection and entered into the public domain.
The Beijing Internet Court (BIC) recently recognized copyright protection in artificial intelligence (AI) generated images, ruling that the images met the requirements of originality and reflected a human's intellectual property investment. Li v. Liu, Written Civ. Rulings (Beijing Internet Ct. Nov. 27, 2023) (China).
Given the sharp rise in usefulness of and attention to generative AI–powered applications, the US Copyright Office issued a notice of inquiry and request for comments in order to conduct a deep dive on how this technology could impact fundamental aspects of copyright law, including some issues we have recently discussed, such as potential infringement based on model training content and copyright protection of generative AI outputs.
Morgan Lewis’s technology, outsourcing, and commercial transactions team often advises on transactions where there is some form of intellectual property being transferred from one party to another party. This may be due to a corporate transaction, a cooperation or joint venture arrangement, or some other form of commercial agreement.
New York recently passed a law that, effective immediately, allows student athletes at colleges within the state to receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness (NIL) being used to endorse products and services, without the risk of losing their scholarships or eligibility to participate in their sports.
Please join us for our Artificial Intelligence Boot Camp series, beginning November 1, 2022, as we explore the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) across industries. Our presenters will cover a wide range of topics, including contracting for AI in digital transformation, key issues in AI patents and copyrights, digital health, ethics, and more.
Effective management of intellectual property is crucial in the contracting stages of technology projects. Various types of intellectual property can be subject to protection in an agreement and may receive different types of treatment. For example, copyright protection, patent protection, and know-how (trade secrets) are all subject to different rules when it comes to contracting.
The UAE enacted a new Federal Law No. 38 of 2021 concerning copyright and neighboring rights (New Law) that replaced the old Federal Law No. 7 of 2002 (Old Law) and came into force in January 2022. The New Law provides a clearer framework in an increasing digital environment for businesses.
On August 19, Russian State Duma member Andrey Kuznetsov introduced a bill on compulsory licensing of copyrights that allows the courts to approve compulsory licenses for content and other copyrightable objects not available in Russia.
Following the success of the previous blog post “A Brief Overview of the Metaverse and the Legal Challenges It Will Present,” we are introducing a new feature for the Tech & Sourcing blog: “Future Watch.” Our Future Watch posts will focus on the most topical areas of the technology industry and will explore the associated legal challenges and potential future developments.