The Metaverse envisions a future in which people can use virtual reality (VR) headsets, glasses, and wristbands and do a variety of things, including socialise, collaborate, adopt avatars, play games, explore virtual zoos and jungles, meet at virtual coffee shops, hold meetings in virtual boardrooms, dance in virtual nightclubs, and attend virtual concerts with friends[1]. Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Blockchain have a major contribution towards the advancement of Metaverse. The Metaverse has emerged as one of the top five emerging trends and technologies for 2022 and is likely to be worth $800 billion by 2024[2]. The concept of Metaverse is gradually unfolding and has already gained a foothold in a number of sectors, like healthcare, law, business and sports. It has also opened endless opportunities for fashion designers, fashion and retail brands and “trendsetters”. Digital clothing has emerged as the latest fashion which is not only exclusive but also affordable. The immersive digital environment of the metaverse creates a number of issues, including the ownership of intellectual property (IP) on virtual goods and material, including avatars, produced by companies and users, as well as the enforcement of IP rights in the event of infringement[3].

This paper gives a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of fashion industry in the Metaverse through Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and technologies like Augmented reality and virtual reality. The author speaks about the advantages of digital fashion economically, socially and environmentally. This paper analyses the various concerns that arise with the expansion of fashion and retail brands over the digital space. It elaborates on the issue of Copyright ownership on the Metaverse and trademark infringement.

An Introduction to Digital Fashion

The culture around the creation, collecting and wearing of clothing in the digital sphere is known as “digital fashion.” The massive potential of digital fashion is being welcomed by independent creators and prominent brands alike as a response to technology advancement. Digital clothing is dependent on pixels and not on textiles[4].

The idea of digital fashion comes from video games, however, technologies such as Metaverse have elevated digital clothing from merely functional to fashion. It was observed that gamers without hesitating bought clothes, accessories and skins for their characters although it did not affect their game in anyway, therefore making it clear that individuals would passionately invest in digital clothing[5]. The beginning of Social Digital Fashion can be traced back to stimulators such as The Sims (2000) and interactive social network called the Second Life[6].

The creation of the NFT, which enables designers to register digital fashion in a unique format, i.e., blockchain. This marked the first step toward the creation of a real metaverse for the fashion industry[7].

Image Courtesy: https://medium.com/@eliesczhae/digital-fashion-the-next-frontier-of-nfts-360f19dc17d7

Benefits of Digital Fashion

1. Digital Fashion is environment friendly

Did you know? The Fashion industry contributes to around 10% of the total emission of the greenhouse gases. Approximately ,700 gallons are needed to manufacture one cotton shirt and 2000 gallons to produce a pair of jeans, with this, the fashion industry becomes the second-largest consumer and polluter of water[8]. Well, the good news is, with the digital fashion surfacing the fashion world, the amount of air pollution and water wastage can be reduced significantly as the carbon footprint of producing a digital cloth is around 95% lesser than that of a physical garment[9]. Moreover, it is also a sustainable option as there is no wastage of textiles or other raw materials involved in manufacturing a physical garment.

2. Manufacturing cost and time can be reduced

Fashion and retail brands can reduce their expenses if they choose to expand their business to the digital space as it does not involve any manufacturing costs, logistics costs or storage costs.

Also, digital innovation process consumes lesser time than the physical process of designing and manufacturing. For instances, PUMA cut their water wastage by 17% and expenses by 30% by entering into the arena of digital fashion.

3. Digital Fashion can be truly universal

Digital Fashion advances the idea that anyone irrespective of their size, body type or gender can wear anything that they wish for. Physical garments can sometimes create a gap between people of different sizes and genders. However, digital clothing helps in doing away with this problem. Moreover, it is relatively easier for fashion brands to create clothing that is suitable for everyone alike.

Intellectual Property on Metaverse

Many fashion companies are entering the realm of NFTs and Metaverse. In certain circumstances, the NFTs are auctioned alongside some real couture items for prices significantly greater than those typically paid for the original pieces. NFTs assist the brand owners in reducing anti-counterfeiting. NFTs fight against the counterfeits by extending the possibility to embed an NFT in physical products which can then be scanned in order to confirm whether they are authentic or not[10]. However, NFTs cannot guarantee authenticity fully because if the information entered at the outset is false, then the NFTs will affirm and uphold that untruth in all of its subsequent sales.

1. Copyright Ownership on Metaverse

The legal definition of copyright for digital assets such as NFTs has not been regulated and recognised. This opens a door for a vicious loop of ambiguities and disputes between creators and brands. Another problem is that, on a digital space like Metaverse, individuals cannot get their money back through blockchain when they have been cheated on by sale of fake creations, besides, they can also not file a complaint against the same because the transactions are one-way[11].

“Ownership” in the metaverse is nothing more than a form of licensing, or provision of services. The concept of Ownership is quite complex in the metaverse. Last year, Nike registered seven trademark applications in advance of its entry into the Metaverse. The trademark application covered virtual items that could be downloaded, virtual goods that could be purchased in stores, and virtual clothes and footwear that could be worn in virtual worlds. The ownership of a piece of property can be traced back to it in the physical world. While one individual may own the comparable physical property in the Metaverse, other people may hold ownership of the corresponding digital things and properties[12].

2. Trademarks on Metaverse

Trademark is a type of Intellectual Property which helps in distinguishing the goods and services of one enterprise from those of the other enterprises. A trademark helps in establishing goodwill for the brand and ensures that the source of goods is engraved in the minds of its consumers. When a brand acquires trademark protection, it prevents others from using the same or similar mark which would cause confusion and deception in the minds of the people regarding the credibility and authenticity of the goods or services.

Well-known companies like Burberry, Nike, Gucci, Givenchy, and Skechers, as well as unidentified and independent applicants, have been rushing to register trademarks for their Metaverse products. Some of these companies have also looked into using non-fungible tokens,  (NFTs), to protect their intellectual property rights[13].

A lawsuit for trademark infringement and dilution was recently filed by Hermès which one of the most exclusive luxury brands, against artist Mason Rothschild for creating and marketing “MetaBirkins,” a collection of 100 NFTs featuring furry Birkin bags, and for extensively using the BIRKIN trademark in connection with the NFTs. Hermès claims that the line violates the well-known BIRKIN trademark and trade dress that they have. In reply to the same, Mr. Rothschild refers to himself as an artist and claims that fair use absolves his liability[14]. Hermès made assertions about how, in addition to raising the possibility of customer confusion, this unlawful use by third parties may also damage the companies’ virtual goods markets.

Image Courtesy: https://www.gamingtechlaw.com/2022/02/intellectual-property-metaverse-nft-fashion.html

Legal Challenges on Metaverse

Identification of the owners of IP protected content created in the metaverse will be a major challenge. This will require taking into consideration the varied specifications from jurisdictions around the world. Assignment and licensing agreements will play a vital role in regulating Metaverse. Determining the users rights will be necessary because the right to exploit a work in the metaverse does not entirely fall within the ambit of the digital uses typically covered by agreements. It is crucial that fashion brands and fashion designers are aware of the terms and conditions in particular, IP ownership and control provisions of the Metaverse before they expand their business.

While the Metaverse is providing fashion designers, fashion brands and independent artists, with new and exciting opportunities, the issue of how to safeguard intangible property on the Metaverse still looms. The Metaverse is built on the concept of decentralisation, however, the existing Intellectual Property Protection mechanism relies on centralised methods such as courts and tribunals. Therefore, it is important that this aspect should also be taken into consideration and the existing legislations should be relooked upon accordingly.

References:

[1] Badri Narayana, Hemant Krishna, Protecting Intellectual Property in Metaverse, The Hindu, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/protecting-intellectual-property-in-metaverse/article65408301.ece ( Last Visited on 19^th June, 2022)

[2] Geri Mileva, 50+ Metaverse Statistics | Market Size & Growth (2022), https://influencermarketinghub.com/metaverse-stats/ (Last Visited on 19^th June, 2022)

[3] Alix Taverne, IP and the metaverse: ownership and infringement of rights, Osborne Clarke, https://www.osborneclarke.com/insights/ip-and-metaverse-ownership-and-infringement-rights (Last Visited on 19th June, 2022)

[4] Digital Clothing: All You Need to Know About the Future of Fashion Brands, Loomy Blog, https://blog.loomly.com/digital-clothing/, (Last visited on 20^th June, 2022)

[5] The History of Digital Fashion, NFTArty, https://nft-arty.com/the-history-of-digital-fashion/, (Last Visited on 19^th June, 2022)

[6] Digital Fashion in the Metaverse, Dissrup, https://dissrup.com/editorial/digital-fashion-in-the-metaverse, (Last Visited on 19^th June, 2022)

[7] Digital Fashion in the Metaverse, Dissrup, https://dissrup.com/editorial/digital-fashion-in-the-metaverse, (Last Visited on 21^st June, 2022)

[8] Rashmila Maiti, Fast Fashion and Its Environmental Impact, https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/, (Last visited on 19^th June, 2022)

[9] Digital Clothing: All You Need to Know About the Future of Fashion Brands, Loomy Blog, https://blog.loomly.com/digital-clothing/, (Last visited on 21^st June, 2022)

[10] Valentina Mazza, Intellectual Property Rights in the Metaverse: NFTs and Fashion, Dlapiper, https://blogs.dlapiper.com/iptitaly/2022/02/intellectual-property-rights-in-the-metaverse-nfts-and-fashion/#page=1, (Last visited on June 22^nd, 2022)

[11] Lorenzo Salamone, Renato Balestra’s new logo is strangely familiar, https://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/28889/renato-balestra-logo-balenciaga, (Last Visited on June 22^nd, 2022)

[12] James Lyons, Legal Issues Facing the Metaverse, Lawrence Stephans, https://www.lawrencestephens.com/legal-issues-facing-the-metaverse/, (Last Visited on 23^rd June, 2022)

[13] Badri Narayana, Hemant Krishna, Protecting Intellectual Property in Metaverse, The Hindu, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/protecting-intellectual-property-in-metaverse/article65408301.ece ( Last Visited on 23^rd June, 2022)

[14] Ana Leticia Allevato, Metaverse: Fashion Trademark Battles to Watch, https://blog.jipel.law.nyu.edu/2022/03/metaverse-fashion-trademark-battles-to-watch/, (Last Visited on 25^th June, 2022)

Author:

Aanchal K Golecha

Aanchal K Golecha, a third-year law student at School of Law, Christ University, Bangalore has a deep-rooted passion for Fashion Laws, Intellectual Property Rights, and Feminist Jurisprudence. Besides, she also enjoys blogging, cooking, and digital arts. She is committed to learning continuously and nurturing the values of excellence and integrity. “Do what is right and not what is easy” is something she believes in.

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Below are some of the useful online tools for modern law offices. 

• Online Faxing 

Online faxing is a very useful tool for law offices. This online tool eliminates the hardware and software requirements of traditional fax machines because law offices can receive fax via email. It means that law offices can now choose the convenience of checking their fax right at their email inbox. 

Online faxing comes with the following features and benefits: 

• Mobile App Usage: You can download the mobile app of online faxing on your smartphone or any internet-capable mobile device, allowing you to access, send, and receive fax by email. 

• Fax Archiving: You can access all the faxes for your law firm with online faxing anytime and anywhere. 

• Local or Toll-Free Numbers: Online faxing providers offer both local and toll-free numbers. 

• Shareable: Online faxing enables you to share the fax number to several email addresses. 

• Online Dispute Resolution Tool 

With Information and Communication Technology (ICT), resolving disputes online is now possible, which is called online dispute resolution (ODR). In India, online dispute resolution is a strengthening mechanism to simplify resolving the dispute with both parties while just sitting at the comfort of their home. 

Video sharing applications provide reasonable alternatives to face-to-face meetings through online video meetings. Lawyers can communicate and see clients or colleagues in real-time. This function is suitable during emergencies when parties can’t leave their locations.  

ODR comes with the following advantages for law offices: 

• Resolves Data Storage Problem: Having an ODR system ensures secure data storage, in which law firm personnel can transfer the information as necessary seamlessly. 

• Improves Time and Cost Management: With ODR, all parties can talk online, eliminating the need to travel. This innovative approach boosts procedural efficiency. 

• Law Firm Website  

Lawyers need to create and improve their digital marketing strategies. Therefore, every modern law office should have a website, which is the most useful tool to help boost digital marketing. 

A great law firm website should have the following characteristics: 

• Professional Looking: Law firm websites should maintain their professional look. However, you need to make sure that your website isn’t too stiff.  

• Informative: Law firm websites should be informative. Adding a blog section is a great idea to share your legal expertise and gain more potential clients. 

• Fast Loading: Online visitors are potential clients. That’s why their user experience on your website should be satisfactory by ensuring that you have fast-loading web pages. 

• Legal Research Software 

Law offices should also have legal research software to support case law. Lawyers can dig through old records using legal research software.  

Here are some of the features and benefits of online legal research software programs: 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Lawyers can identify relevant statutes and cases to help draft a brief with AI legal assistants. 

• Natural Language Search: This feature helps in faster query search by entering a normal language question instead of keywords. 

• Citation Checking: Find out whether a statute or case has been modified, reversed, or overruled with a citation checker. 

• Filter Search: It allows you to restrict a search to certain parameters such as date, jurisdiction, or judge.   

• Alerts: You can flag key cases to get email notifications if a new statute, case, or secondary source is cited. 

• Digital Legal Pads  

Modern law offices use digital pads instead of paper pads, which are a type of pen-enabled computing device. Lawyers handle tons of data and files on paper and servers, making information search a big hassle. With digital pads, paperless legal practice is possible. These pads are equipped with a secure software program to maximize law office productivity. 

Lawyers can access all their files and office case data whenever they need them. This means they can get finish case note updates and work orders in court while waiting for a call for their next case. Digital legal pads also promote digital presentations, which are far better than bulky paper presentations. 

Conclusion: 

Modern law offices use online tools to produce and process legal documents faster and easier now more than ever. Online faxing by email enables you to manage your faxes using your mobile device so you can access them anywhere and anytime. Indeed, law offices can attain their fullest potential by embracing the above online tools. 

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In the recent years, there had been significant development in artificial intelligence. In simple words, artificial intelligence can be described as the intelligence or skills displayed by the machines. This is different from the natural intellect displayed by human beings. More often, artificial intelligence is created by human skills or knowledge. With the advancements in science, there have been many major inventions including robots that can walk, speak and even think like human beings.

Artificial intelligence systems possess the capability to be independent and creative; sometimes more creative than human beings. At an international level, there had been many products invented or rather created by the AI systems. Therefore, there is an existing dilemma regarding the authorship and ownership of the products created by artificial intelligence. This article would primarily deal with this issue from a legal perspective.

WHAT ARE THE APPLICABLE LAWS?

Artificial Intelligence is creating a lot of useful products in the technical field. So, whenever such an invention is made it becomes necessary that it is protected. The authorship and ownership of the creation must be well established. In India, the prominent legislation to make this happen has been the Indian Copyright Act, 1857.

INDIAN COPYRIGHT ACT, 1857

The definition of ‘author’ is given under section 2(d) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1857. According to the definition, “in relation to any literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work which is computer-generated, the person who causes the work to be created is the author of the work”[1]. But, computer algorithms are not coming under this definition. System generated or machine produced works are not provided registered copyrights. However, we have gone so far in the scientific field that machines create a number of products or works.

The major issue with 2(d) of the act is that in order to attain a copyright, the individual must satisfactorily come under the purview of “author” under the said section. But, can artificial intelligence be treated as a legal individual? This is another controversy as the world already witnessed instances like the robot Sophia being given the citizenship of Saudi Arabia (this robot was a legal person of Saudi Arabia).

So, the current legal framework under the Copyright Act, 1957 does not effectively deal with the creation/invention of works in which the actual contributor of the “expression” is not a human or a legal person[2]. Thus, when it comes to works that are created by artificial intelligence, their authorship would be a bone of contention as under Indian copyright laws[3].

PATENTS ACT, 1970

Patents Act basically deals with the new creations or inventions. This is another important legislation with regard to the intellectual property laws. Section 2 of the act provides the various definitions associated with patent rights. “Patentee” is defined under section 2(p) as the person for the time being entered on the register as the grantee of proprietor of the patent[4]. “Person interested” is defined under section 2(t) as a person engaged in, or in promoting, research in the same field as that to which the invention relates. Under both these definitions there is no mention of artificial intelligence[5]. It does not specify as to whether the term “person” includes only legal persons or whether it has any space for artificial beings.

Section 6 of the Patents Act deals with the persons entitled to patents. But, even here there is no mention of the status of the products created by artificial intelligence. Rather, there is no clue whether “true and first investor” includes only human beings or not.

SIGNIFICANT JUDGEMENTS

In Rupendra Kashyap v. Jiwan Publishing House Pvt. Ltd[6] it was held by the court that “in the context of question papers for an examination, that the author of the examination paper is a person who has compiled the questions; the person who does this compiling, is a natural person, a human being, and not an artificial person; Central Board of Secondary Education is not a natural person and it would be entitled to claim copyright in the examination papers only if it establishes and proves that it has engaged persons specifically for purposes of preparation of compilation, known as question papers, with a contract that copyright therein will vest in Central Board of Secondary Education”. Hence, CBSE not being a natural person was not entitled to copyrights.

Similarly, it was held in many other cases that juristic person is incapable of being the author of any work in which copyright may exist[7].

In the case of Naruto v Slater[8] held that, animals by virtue of the fact that they are not humans lack locus standi under Copyright Act to sue for infringement. Issue was related to copyright infringement of the selfies taken by a macaque.

In Eastern Book Company & Ors v. D.B. Modak & Anr[9], it was observed that “To claim copyright in a compilation, the author must produce the material with exercise of his skill and judgment which may not be creativity in the sense that it is novel or non- obvious, but at the same time it is not a product of merely labour and capital. The derivative work produced by the author must have some distinguishable features and flavour.”

There can be two major types of issues associated with products created primarily by artificial intelligence. These are the products produced without any human intervention and products created with a certain level of human interference. The issues of ownership and authorship are more or less similar in both the scenarios.

POSITION IN UNITED KINGDOM AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

In the United Kingdom, the law that governs patentability is the “Patent Law of 1977”. As per this law, the artificial intelligence models  and  computational  algorithms  are  excluded  from  patentability,  unless  they constitute  a  computer  program  that  has  an  “additional  technical  effect”  that  goes more than or  beyond “normal” physical interactions between the computer and the program[10].

Inventions  are  generally  patentable  in  the  United States,  however,  because  they  involve features related to computer and software, care should be taken regarding the US Supreme Court eligibility  test  as  provided  in  Alice  Corp. v. CLS Bank  International[11].

CONCLUSION

The issue of ownership and authorship of artificial intelligence products can be dealt effectively by making amendments in the Copyrights Act. There is even scope of a new legislation governing the protection of products created by artificial intelligence. Demarcation can be made in the products based on whether there was human interference in making that product or not. The more the human intervention, more will be the possibility of the human attaining ownership of that particular product.

Also, the products created by an AI may or may not be desired by the owner. With the developments in science, there can be situations where the AI can create certain products that are not preferred by its owner. But, since there is no specific law the liability will be on the human owner. This is also a case which mandates a new rule or legislation in this area.

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The intensification of artificial intelligence will radically transform the original way of law by redefining how legal work will be in the future. It is commonly accepted that routine work such as factory and office work are the most vulnerable to Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is “the use of computer systems to perform tasks that are normally done by humans and require some intelligence decision making”.[1] AI will bring in huge change in the market for legal services. The legal sector has been slow to embrace digital transformation. Even today the best lawyers do most of their work by hand and use old methods. In the office and in the courtroom, lawyers make use of paperwork more than the computer. This is about to change as artificial intelligence is set to transform the legal industry. This article aims to bring an understanding of how artificial intelligence will affect the legal industry and challenges that it will have in the legal field.

INNOVATION IN LEGAL FRATERNITY

Law firms are constantly looking for ways to innovate while they remain efficient with their work to save time. Certainly, this does not apply to all employees at a law firm, but firms are transitioning to a pure data-oriented model. Law firms could save time if they make use of technology in solving their problems using advanced searching for resources. Artificial intelligence will have the greatest impact in the administrative work of lawyers or decrease the amount of work done by the admin clerk in the office or at the court.[2] This will, in turn, restructure business models and finances within law firms. Although this technology can eliminate many office tasks, there is a substantial amount of work that needs to be accomplished through a lawyer, so after the technology process, the lawyer will still have to go through the work. Those which involve the sole task of searching documents or other databases for information and coding that information are most at risk of losing their employment. While there will be job losses, there will also be jobs will be created, including management and development of AI computers.[3] Lawyers can never be able to have the knowledge to deal with the recent technology and they will still play a role of final say in whatever that AI computer will generate. In most cases, lawyers will be freed only from doing routine tasks. Most lawyers’ work will require the human touch. In the legal field, AI will just be a tool to help lawyers to do their work better, faster, and less expensively, rather than to take over the work of lawyers.

CHALLENGES OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN LEGAL FRATERNITY

Legal interpretation requires a technical skill. Lawyers need to consult with clients and build up the client relationship to understand their clients and build up the trust in them. Computers cannot do this in the same way humans can. The answers to legal problems are not always easy to understand. It is very rare that legal issues can be solved by simply looking up a provision in the law. Most of the law is built on precedent, where every case has someone arguing the exact opposite of how the case was decided. This means that everything needs to be put into context and AI computers are unlikely to handle this.[4] Most of the clients will not talk to an AI computer, they will prefer a direct communication with their lawyer. This personal relationship that cannot be replaced by a computer. A human can look at the circumstances, the body language, and other intangibles, along with teasing out the relevant details so that you get not only the answer but help with understanding it, so that you can accept it and implement it. It is highly unlikely that AI ever develops to the point of overcoming all four of these key points, at least in our lifetimes.[5]

Lawyering requires human-human interaction, creativity, language processing at the highest level, deep understanding of how society works, and a sort of experience that can only be done by humans. Therefore, human lawyers, at least for the next ten years or so, will be irreplaceable. This means most lawyer jobs should be safe for now in their jobs. If the pace of AI adoption changes significantly and comes faster than anticipated, then the potential for technology disruption in the legal industry can be much larger. All of this tells us that while AI is a game-changer in many ways, it will most likely transform the work done by lawyers rather than eliminate that work done by lawyers. The use of AI computers will drive down the cost of legal services by making sure that certain key legal needs that are straightforward, will be much more in reach every day for workers. Stepping back, we may well need all the AI-legal assistance we can get to improve the work done by the lawyers.

CONCLUSION

One thing is certain, there will be winners and losers among lawyers who do and do not uptake AI. This article has provided a great look of how AI can benefit law firms, but without doubt, there are a multitude of outside risks. AI should continue to stay with law firms, but only under the likelihood that it aligns well with our all legal system worldwide. To a large extent, AI has a rippling effect on our job market and society. Replacing a lot of these middle to back office tasks means less jobs for students coming out of law school. We will also notice a lot of people questioning ethical responsibility of AI among law firms in society. Ultimately, AI’s impact at law firms is a work in progress. AI will continue to be present at law firms, but all these technological advancements will be required to evolve over time with respect to each legal system jurisdiction across the globe. The existing technology may be limited for now, but the possibilities are intriguing, and the availability, quality, and price will all soon come together in products that are just too useful to in-house legal departments to resist. The value of having AI search and predict problems before they occur, combined with the luxury of providing in-house lawyers with more time to think and advise, has every sign of changing the game for the procurement and delivery of legal services. The impact of artificial intelligence to the legal industry is yet to be seen fully.

[1] English Oxford Dictionary

[2] Benjamin “How Artificial Intelligence Will Affect the Practice of Law” University of Toronto Law Journal, vol. 68. January 2018. pp. 106–124. EBSCOhost.

[3] Drew “Ethical Implications of Electronic Communication and Storage of Client Information” Computer & Internet Lawyer, vol. 33. August 2016. pp. 14–18. EBSCOhost.

[4] Betterteam, “Attorney Job Description.” 21 March 2018. https://www.betterteam.com/attorney-job-description. [Accessed 07-10-2020].

[5] Sanzogni “Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Management: Questioning the Tactic Dimension” Prometheus. vol. 35. March 2017. pp. 37-56. EBSCOhost. 

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Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Arena

Artificial Intelligence can augur the creation of legal documents and formats based upon raw data. It can also provide strategic guidance in case histories by going through the old case records and determining for example what are the cases in which settlement/compromise can be arrived at.  It spots designs, patterns and trends in raw data and then describes those findings in natural language.  For instance AI will replace, say cross examining a driver involved in an accident by a lawyer in the conventional format  by cross examination being conducted by an algorithm ie. an expert on the subject, through a questionnaire. Applying similar technique, legal documents can be produced, and such systems could also carry out many tasks given to the paralegals and junior associates.

Intellectual Property Rights and Artificial Intelligence

Intellectual Property Rights as a tool deals with the entire gamut of copyright, trademarks, patents and industrial design. Herein our focus will be on copyright, trademarks and patents.

Copyright or (Author’s right) encapsulates the rights creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright range from books, music, paintings, sculpture and films to computer programs, databases , technical drawings and the like.

A  Copyright protects the Expression of an Idea and Artistic Works. The Copyright aspect would protect the following  realms of Artificial Intelligence namely compilation of data, source code, data sets as programmed into the AI device, as all of these fall within the ambit of “Artistic Works”.  Copyrights also have the potential to protect machine originated work such as new music. The lacunae herein are that most copyright statutes (internationally) do not clearly define who owns the machine generated work(the AI device or the feeder of the algorithm). This could be ascribed as a drawback owing to Artificial Intelligence, as Artificial Intelligence devices are programmed to work without human intervention, just by feeding algorithms into the device.

A Trademark is unique and is defined as a sign to identify the source origin of goods and services. It may consist of a combination of letter, words, sounds or logos that distinguish one company’s goods and services from another. A strong trademark adoption will propel Artificial Intelligence Companies to differentiate their products from competitors and act as a safety shield from passing off or infringement of trademarks.

In contradistinction Artificial Intelligence can propel trademark searches. In the usual scheme of things most of the present trademark search methodologies are antique.  Trademark Public Search Government sites are clogged taking hours to throw up search results. Software search tools like MikeTM Search which are a product of AI conduct optimal and faster searches.

Patents – A patent is an exclusive right granted for an invention for a certain time limit which is a product or a process that provides in general, a new way of doing something, or offers a new technical solution to a problem. In order to obtain patent technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application. Patents regarding Artificial Intelligence mechanisms are difficult to obtain. The date on which the patent is filed assumes prime importance as an early “Priority date is most vital in view of the principle “First to file the Patent ”.Practical implementation gives a fillip to patentability- For example AI tools treating a physical object such as a medical device.

Cyber Laws and Artificial Intelligence

Application of Artificial Intelligence is potential fodder for hackers in the cyber world. By dint of AI, hackers would be able to attack and explore victim’s networks which are generally labour intensive tasks. AI mechanisms when planted are capable of serenading the victims multiple accounts thus eliciting all personal details. There would thus be a rise in malware attacks and security incidents across public cloud platforms.

Artificial Intelligence in legal operations

(A)Legal Research– Artificial Intelligence may augment legal research by providing for it in a far more systematic manner. It may further be able to predict the outcomes of litigation based upon the previous case study data.

(B) Contract Due Diligence– AI can act as a marker to carve out the dates and deadlines in a contract to alert the parties concerned to perform the contract on time.

(C) Legal Document Generation and Review– AI can come up with certain sections that are important clauses necessarily to be incorporated for contracts in the concerned jurisdictions.

Drawbacks

AI has certain drawbacks with legal implications. AI for instance is not yet applicable to financial transactions. The lending of money to another on one’s behalf poses problems as to how will debt repayment take place( who will be the lender, the AI device carrying out the transaction or the lender in person who owns the money).

Another case in point is that of automated machines. Automated machines do not have a check in place for speeding. According to California law the designer of the system will be liable in event of an accident. On the flipside a ‘Chatbot’ has been designed in the U.S for instructing drivers as to curbing parking violations.

Conclusion

An artificial intelligence technique called natural language processing has proved useful in scanning and predicting what documents will be relevant to a case, for example. Yet other lawyers’ tasks, like advising clients, writing legal briefs, negotiating and appearing in court, seem beyond the reach of computerization, for a while. Highly paid lawyers will spend their time on work on the upper rungs of the legal task ladder. Other legal services will be performed by nonlawyers — the legal equivalent of nurse practitioners — or by technology.

Author: SPITI SARKAR

The post Legal Aspects of Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Legal Desire Media and Insights.

A recent study has stated that even though Artificial Intelligence may enter the legal profession, there cannot be any scenario where it will completely rule out the need for human professionals. Technology might increase the growth and efficiency by increasing the accuracy of the work, it cannot however, automate the legal profession in its entirety.

A study by the the McKinsey Global Institute has found that while nearly half of all tasks could be automated with current technology, only 5% of jobs could be entirely automated, estimating that 23% of a lawyer’s job can be automated. Technology will transform multiple aspects of legal work, but legal experts predict highly paid lawyers will spend their time on the top rungs of the “legal ladder,” working on tasks with higher-level cognitive demands; non-lawyers or technology will perform the more routine legal services.

It has been observed that with the advent of technology, competition is likely to become more fierce and the clients are likely to pressurize different firms to adapt to these methods and therefore it is a necessity for the lawyers to embrace the perks of Artificial Intelligence and its ability to build a different culture.

However, this dependency cannot be said to lead to a doom for the legal professionals. The advent of the AI and other technological software may prove to be a boon, rather than a bane, as they may increase the value of the human judgment. In such a case, the lawyers will be able to provide real time insights and the value of their work would grow, judging the fact that it cannot be replicated by the AI.

Even though the technological software may transform the legal profession to great lengths, it cannot possibly prove the professional judgment and expertise to be absurd.

The post What does AI entail for the Future of Law? appeared first on Legal Desire Media and Insights.