“The report concludes that AI can improve the effectiveness of detecting and enforcing copyright and design infringement, but that the use of AI technologies for criminal purposes (including including copyright and design infringement) is on the rise.”
The European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) recently published an in-depth report entitled Study on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Copyright and Design Infringement and Enforcement.
The report is a product of the Technology Impact Panel, which was established in early 2019. They followed an approach based on Lawrence Lessig’s “Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace”, also known as the name of code theory. It describes how human activity online is regulated by law, social norms and the market, taking into account the technical infrastructure of the Internet.
This approach has led to a double-edged metaphor, where a particular technology can be used either to infringe intellectual property rights or to protect/enforce them, exhibiting to some extent the same characteristics in each case.
The Group has also developed a methodology called the Intellectual Property Tech Chain, which has been described in its first report, published in September 2020. According to this methodology, the development of any application follows four stages: Exploration; Conversion; militarization; and Use.
The report does not specifically address other types of intellectual property, or substantive issues related to protection, review of applications, documentation, rights management, or copyright ownership and designs and models.
Report findings
The report examines the use of AI technologies and tools in copyright and design infringement and enforcement in 20 scenarios. These 20 scenarios are grouped into two scenarios: physical products and digital content.
The first scenario includes scenarios such as: stealing copyrighted works or designs under development; mass production of copyright and design infringing goods; sale in the physical market of products infringing copyright and design; forgery of commercial presentation; and online marketing of copyright and design infringing products
The second scenario includes: hacking media accounts; social media offences; offenses related to media sharing platforms; P2P and BitTorrent type applications; live broadcast ; and training an AI application.
The report concludes that AI can improve the effectiveness of detecting and enforcing copyright and design infringements, but that the use of AI technologies for criminal purposes (including copyright and design infringement) is on the rise.
Limitations of AI in this area include reliance on large amount of high-quality data, inability to address long-tail problems, limited versatility, reliance on specific application scenarios, use actual limited by law enforcement agencies in copyright and design enforcement. Concerns include those related to ethics, privacy and fundamental rights.
Recommendations and Conclusions
The report endorses the to see of the European Parliament that algorithms and AI must be “ethical by design” and the need to find a common complementary legal and ethical framework for the use of AI.
There is a proposal for a new EU regulatory framework for AI which aims to ensure that AI systems used in the EU market are safe and respect existing legislation on fundamental rights and values. This is now under discussion. (To see ‘A European approach to artificial intelligence”.)
The report concludes: “A wide range of AI-related tools and technologies are currently or potentially used in copyright and design infringement and enforcement. There is a clear need for improved understanding, awareness and capacity building on the part of all stakeholders, including policy makers, IP protection entities, businesses and enforcement authorities of the law. »
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