Roadmap to Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property: An Introduction

Traditionally, the “intellectual” part of “intellectual property” (IP) refers to human intellect. However, since machines have become intelligent and are increasingly capable of making creative, innovative choices based on opaque algorithms, the “intellectual” in “intellectual property” turns out to be perplexing. Existing human-centric IP regimes based on promoting incentives and avoiding disincentives may no longer be relevant – or even positively detrimental – if artificial intelligence ("AI") comes into play. Moreover, AI has sparked new issues in IP law regarding legal subjects, scope, standards of protection, exceptions and relationships between actors. This book proceeds in seven parts, each of which is interconnected. Part A provides the technical, business and economic foundations for the later analysis of IP issues in the AI environment in the following parts of the book. Part B examines emerging substantive patent law and policy issues associated with AI, including foundational patents in AI-related inventions, the patentability of AI inventions and how AI tools raise the standard of the inventive step. This part also illustrates how patent prosecution has evolved from material to textual to digital. Part C probes into two major copyright issues concerning AI’s involvement in creation: the copyrightability of AI-generated works and copyright exceptions for text and data mining (TDM). Parts B and C present various legal and policy concerns in patent law and copyright law, respectively. However, patent law, copyright law and trademark law occasionally share the same conundrum caused by the rapid development of AI technologies. From Parts D to G, this book covers issues relevant to multiple categories of IP. While AI has enhanced the efficiency of IP administration and enforcement, it has generated new problems yet to be solved. Therefore, Part D explores how AI reshapes IP administration in the public sector and IP enforcement in the private sector. Part E examines copyright and patent protection for AI software, which is qualitatively different from traditional computer programs. While AI is implemented by software, the protection for such software per se has been ignored by the mainstream IP literature. Part F discusses the protection of and access to data, which is the driving force of all AI inventions and applications. It further illustrates how IP law will interact with other fields of law, such as unfair competition law and personal data protection law, on various data-related issues. Part G provides a broader picture of AI and IP, searching for solutions to fundamental inquiries, such as IP and competition policy in the era of AI and whether an AI should be viewed as a legal person.