Addressing legal issues with the latest technological developments and social media trends.
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In 2021, the Department of Homeland Security started a process of adopting regulations for mobile driver’s licenses. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has since begun allowing mobile driver’s licenses as identification at airports, and several states jumped on the bandwagon, offering mobile driver’s licenses through state-sponsored apps or via Apple and Google Wallet. Now, the TSA has proposed new regulations that would waive REAL ID requirements for state-issued mobile driver’s licenses, but privacy advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) warn this move may put consumers’ personal information at risk.

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In speaking at this past week’s #shifthappens Conference, I had the pleasure of discussing both the potential and pitfalls posed by generative AI with fellow panelists David Pryor Jr., Alex Tuzhilin, Julia Glidden and Gerry Petrella. Our wide-ranging discussion covered how regulators can address the privacy, security and transparency concerns that underlie this transformative technology. Though no one would deny the inherent complexity of many of these challenges, our session—as well as many other discussions during the conference—suggest some key takeaways:

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On October 20, at 9:15 a.m., colleague and frequent contributor Sam Eichner will present on “Copyright Implications of Generative AI” during the Copyright and Trademark track at the 2023 AIPLA Annual Meeting.

The event will host over 1,000 IP practitioners and leaders and cover a wide range of IP-related topics, including the ethical implications of AI in research and development, trademarks and the First Amendment, Standard Essential Patents licensing, the PTAB, Section 101, and transformative fair use.

For more information, please see the event page.

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The UK and U.S. Governments have now formalized the UK-U.S. Data Bridge. The U.S. Attorney General designated the UK as a “qualifying state” for the purposes of the Executive Order 14086 on September 18, 2023, and the UK regulations implementing the Data Bridge are scheduled to take effect on October 12, 2023. From October 12, 2023, the Data Bridge will therefore operate as an extension of the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF) to enable the unrestricted movement of personal data between the UK and certified U.S. entities. For more information about the DPF, see our earlier briefing here.

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Alicia McKnight and Brian Finch urge energy industry players to evaluate cybersecurity risks posed by increasingly interconnected and internet-enabled power grids in an article which was published in the latest edition of Pratt’s Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Report.

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On August 18, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied Dr. Stephen Thaler’s motion and granted the U.S. Copyright Office’s cross motion to dismiss Thaler’s complaint. The facts of Thaler’s struggle to overcome the Copyright Office’s Human Authorship Requirement and register copyright in an AI-generated work are recounted here.

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NewsofNoteMain-300x250In this week’s News of Note, ransomware attacks break records and wipe data for a majority of a cloud provider’s customers, while one RaaS case delivers useful details about cybercriminal techniques and tactics. Also, the development of algorithms to protect against quantum computers continues, facial recognition software nabs an elderly criminal, and more.

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A_Recent_Entrance_to_Paradise-300x225Whose content is it anyway? This is one of the questions that many hope will be answered by a federal court in Thaler v. Perlmutter. In June 2022, computer scientist Dr. Stephen Thaler sued the U.S. Copyright Office to redress the denial of his application to register copyright in his AI system’s visual output under the Office’s “Human Authorship Requirement.” A few months later, the Office again enforced this requirement, reversing its decision to register Kristina Kashtanova’s illustrated comic book, Zarya of the Dawn, after it became clear that AI was used to generate those images. While Thaler now asks a U.S. federal court to determine whether an AI system can author copyrightable work, and to effectively overrule the Office’s “Human Authorship Requirement,” it remains to be seen whether the court will tackle those broad issues, or instead narrowly focus on whether the Office had reasonable grounds to deny Thaler’s application.

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Space-tech2-597931174-300x188Private investors are pouring billions into space-based endeavors. While satellite technology is a common use of these dollars, money is also flowing to projects like the (highly publicized) building of reusable rockets by SpaceX and others, cleaning up “space trash,” mining on the moon and even tackling climate change and health. The renewed interest comes on the heels of more affordable building materials and the arrival of modular components and 3D printing for such projects. The Brookings Institute makes the case that this latest round of space exploration is fueling the fourth industrial revolution.

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On June 29, 2023, in Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., 600 U.S. ___ (2023), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Lanham Act could not extend to trademark infringement that occurred almost entirely outside the United States. While it is not surprising that the Court adhered to the longstanding presumption against extraterritorial application of U.S. law, the rationale underlying its decision may complicate future U.S. trademark actions to stop foreign-sourced counterfeits.

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