In today's knowledge-driven economy, patents are more than legal protections--they are strategic assets shaping innovation, investment, and competition. This book provides a comprehensive framework for patent valuation, integrating economic, financial, and market approaches with emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and tokenization. Patents play a central role in diverse industries, from pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to high-tech and green innovation. However, valuing these assets requires navigating complex legal, economic, and strategic factors. This book explores the methodologies used to assess patent worth, including cost-based, market-based, and income-based approaches, while addressing critical challenges such as litigation risks, regulatory considerations, and monetization strategies.

This open access book explains how leading business organizations attempt to achieve the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced information technologies. These technologies can produce tremendous insights and benefits. But they can also invade privacy, perpetuate bias, and otherwise injure people and society. To use these technologies successfully, organizations need to implement them responsibly and ethically.

This handbook offers an important exploration of generative AI and its legal and regulatory implications from interdisciplinary perspectives. The volume is divided into four parts. Part I provides the necessary context and background to understand the topic, including its technical underpinnings and societal impacts. Part II probes the emerging regulatory and policy frameworks related to generative AI and AI more broadly across different jurisdictions. Part III analyses generative AI's impact on specific areas of law, from non-discrimination and data protection to intellectual property, corporate governance, criminal law and more. Part IV examines the various practical applications of generative AI in the legal sector and public administration. Overall, this volume provides a comprehensive resource for those seeking to understand and navigate the substantial and growing implications of generative AI for the law.

As artificial intelligence continues to transform our world, Europe stands at the forefront of ensuring this revolutionary technology serves humanity's best interests. This essential volume brings together experts on law, regulation, human rights, ethics, and policy to provide the first comprehensive analysis of Europe's pioneering approach to AI regulation.  From the landmark AI Act to data protection and data governance frameworks, this meticulously curated collection offers unprecedented insights into (1) the delicate balance between the public and private benefits of AI, and the public and private risks it poses; (2) the regulatory policy and regulatory strategy influencing European law-making; (3) the role of ethics and human rights in regulating AI in Europe; (4) the real-world implications of evolving European AI regulation; and (5) future challenges and opportunities in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

This celebratory volume honours the remarkable career and intellectual legacy of Professor Dr. Geertrui Van Overwalle, an influential scholar in patent law and plant breeders’ rights. For more than four decades, Van Overwalle has questioned conventions, supported inclusivity, openness, and the public interest. In addition, she has upheld rigorous academic standards and strongly defended academic integrity. Spanning 25 contributions from leading academics and practitioners across the globe, The Future of IP: Stimulating Creativity and Inclusivity explores how intellectual property (IP) law can respond to today’s pressing challenges, from foundational questions of inclusivity, openness, and access to knowledge to sustainability, biotech innovation, patent law and policy interpretation, and digital transformation.

Through nine chapters written by leading scholars in the field, this collection delves into the rapidly emerging area of Generative-AI (Gen-AI) applications and sheds light on the parts of the creative process that will remain fundamentally human throughout the foreseeable future, as well as those that will benefit more from AI-augmentation. Drawing on the dynamic definition of creativity, the contents encompass the Dynamic Universal Creative Process (DUCP) and the DA VINCI model, the design principles of Gen-AI algorithms, the cyber-creativity process in education, journalism, design, fashion, music, and its implications on intellectual property protection.

Taking an interdisciplinary and diverse perspective, this book enriches the evolving definition and scope of IP literature by focusing on actors, products and regulation that shape the business sector. Considering the gap between theory and practice, this book bridges academic and professional knowledge in unpacking legal, ethical and governance issues in the intellectual property industry. In an effort to include as many viewpoints as possible, contributions have been gathered from diverse fields, including business, ethics, governance, law, philosophy and technology studies.

This thought-provoking book follows the EU's journey into the digital age, explaining how it uses legislation and policy to tackle challenges such as the abuse of market power by Big Tech companies and the spread of hate speech and disinformation. Werner Stengg draws on his extensive experience in shaping digital policy to expertly analyse the EU's ambitious legislative and innovation programme, which focuses on human rights and prioritises trustworthy, transparent, and accountable usage of digital technologies. Alongside this examination of legislation and policy, Stengg also outlines the EU's major investment agenda into the digital infrastructures required to become a global player in our data-driven and AI-powered economy. Ultimately, the book highlights that innovations in the digital sphere are essential not only for the global competitiveness of European companies, but also for Europe to safeguard its resilience, autonomy, and technological sovereignty at a time of mounting geopolitical tensions.

This book makes the case that the destiny of Homo sapiens is not just about evolutionary biology but increasingly about evolutionary knowledge. This book describes the web of knowledge where scientific theories appear as intellectual constructs, which lead to new knowledge that open opportunities for gainful human employment for the well-educated while eliminating jobsfor the less-educated by advancing AI in a predator-prey adversarial model (the logistic map), thus raising livelihood concerns across wide swathes of human population. This inevitably leads to the question, "How should intellectual property rights, especially patents, be granted and protected when AI becomes advanced enough to invent without human intervention?" To answer this question, lawmakers, policymakers, managers, government officials, judiciary, enforcement agencies, etc., must have sufficient knowledge of how scientific theories impact modern society.

This book contends that the concept of fairness should be embraced and developed as a middle ground between strictly utilitarian and fundamental rights-based approaches to intellectual property (IP) law. Annette Kur, Nari Lee and Anna Tischner provide elegant arguments as to why this should be the case, and offer insights into how fairness as a legal notion can fulfil the role of mediator between the property aspects of IP law, market regulation and general welfare. They explore the terms and concepts of fairness in EU legislation, analyse the overarching network of goals and values set by EU law, and address the predominant theories that inform the notion of fairness and the use of empirical methods as a tool for its concretization. Ultimately, the book presents a conceptual framework of fairness to form a toolkit for legislative and judicial decision making and applies this to emerging challenges in IP law, such as AI regulation.

In recent years, the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has seen remarkable advances, revolutionizing how we live, work, and interact with technology. As AI systems grow increasingly sophisticated and autonomous, they raise new and challenging legal questions, particularly regarding AI-specific risks associated with automated systems. This indispensable handbook, written in clear language by international experts from all over the world, sheds light on the complex relationship between AI and the law, covering both existing laws and emerging AI-specific legal regulations.

Reto M. Hilty hat im europäischen, deutschen und schweizerischen Immaterialgüterrecht tiefe Spuren hinterlassen. Aus Anlass seiner Emeritierung als Direktor des Max-Planck-Instituts für Innovation und Wettbewerb und als Professor ad personam an der Universität Zürich würdigen seine Freunde, Kollegen und Schüler sein Wirken mit dieser Festschrift. Die Bandbreite der Themen und die Vielfalt der Autoren spiegeln die Vielschichtigkeit der Tätigkeiten des Jubilars. Die Festschrift enthält Beiträge zu Grundsatzfragen des IP-Rechts, zum Patent-, Urheber-, Design- und Markenrecht, zum Schutz von Geschäftsgeheimnissen, zum Recht der geographischen Herkunftsangaben sowie zum Kartell- und Lauterkeitsrecht. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt auf den Herausforderungen der Digitalisierung, insb. auf dem Umgang des IP-Rechts mit Daten und Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI). Reto M. Hilty has left a deep mark on European, German and Swiss intellectual property law. On the occasion of his retirement as Directorof the Max-Planck-Institute for Innovation and Competition and as Professor ad personam at the University of Zurich, his friends and colleagues pay tribute to his work with this Festschrift. The range of topics and the variety of authors reflect the impressive spectrum of Reto's activities. The Festschrift contains contributions on fundamental questions of IP law, on patent, copyright, design and trademark law, on the protection of trade secrets, on the law of geographical indications as well as on antitrust and unfair competition law. One focus is on the challenges of digitalisation, in particular on how IP law deals with data and artificial intelligence (AI).

As computational power, the volume of available data, IT systems' autonomy, and the human-like capabilities of machines increase, robots and AI systems have substantial and growing implications for the law and raise a host of challenges to current legal doctrines. The main question to be answered is whether the foundations and general principles of private law and criminal law offer a functional and adaptive legal framework for the "autonomous systems" phenomena. The main purpose of this book is to identify and explore possible trajectories for the development of civil and criminal liability; for our understanding of the attribution link to autonomous systems; and, in particular, for the punishment of unlawful conduct in connection with their operation. AI decision-making processes - including judicial sentencing - also warrant close attention in this regard. Since AI is moving faster than the process of regulatory recalibration, this book provides valuable insights on its redesign and on the harmonization, at the European level, of the current regulatory frameworks, in order to keep pace with technological changes. Providing a broader and more comprehensive picture of the legal challenges posed by autonomous systems, this book covers a wide range of topics, including the regulation of autonomous vehicles, data protection and governance, personality rights, intellectual property, corporate governance, and contract conclusion and termination issues arising from automated decisions, blockchain technology and AI applications, particularly in the banking and finance sectors. The authors are legal experts from around the world with extensive academic and/or practical experience in these areas.

This open access book presents an interdisciplinary, multi-authored, edited collection of chapters on Artificial Intelligence ('AI') and the Law. AI technology has come to play a central role in the modern data economy. Through a combination of increased computing power, the growing availability of data and the advancement of algorithms, AI has now become an umbrella term for some of the most transformational technological breakthroughs of this age. The importance of AI stems from both the opportunities that it offers and the challenges that it entails. While AI applications hold the promise of economic growth and efficiency gains, they also create significant risks and uncertainty.

The Internet was once envisioned as a borderless realm, promising to unify nations into a peaceful global society and empower individuals with unlimited access to knowledge. Supported by Western deregulation, this dream flourished - until recently. The European Union's introduction of strict laws governing privacy, competition, and content moderation marked a turning point that shocked big tech and initiated a wave of regulations worldwide. In this book, two leading European experts present the reasons behind this seismic shift. They explain how American dominance by a few colossal companies has reshaped our online lives and triggered a movement towards a regulated Internet. This insightful book also offers perspectives on future developments, emphasizing that our collective decisions shape the digital landscape.

Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in each area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. This Research Agenda provides fresh insights into fundamental issues within EU copyright law. Expert authors highlight recent trends in the scholarship and discuss the challenges posed by novel technologies such as AI and NFTs. They expand on the need to update the law to adapt to change and present innovative analyses of various strategies to influence EU copyright policies. Chapters are organized into three parts, which correspond to the traditional pillars of copyright law: authorship; rights and their market implications; and exceptions and other types of flexibilities. They examine crucial points within academic and policy discussions, such as human creativity, the public domain, open access and the very definition of a piece of work within the law.

Social, Ethical & Legal Aspects of Generative AI: Tools, Techniques, and Systems highlights the transformative exploration of the AI revolution. This groundbreaking discourse deciphers the nexus between cutting-edge generative AI tools and the societal framework that shapes their impact. Generative AI is more than a technological marvel; it's a societal force reshaping industries, education, healthcare, and governance. Explore the ethical dilemmas, legal challenges, and innovative solutions driving its global adoption. This volume provides an insight into the latest innovations and state-of-the-art research in the fields of Social, Ethical & Legal Aspects of Generative AI, showcasing their potential to address AI's profound societal implications.

This book analyzes the intellectual property protection regimes in the EU and the U.S. available for three categories of subject matter that are often considered as requiring sui generis protection, namely, databases, designs and plant varieties. One of the main objectives is to evaluate whether the chosen subject matter in fact requires sui generis intellectual property protection and whether the introduced sui generis regimes have proved to be successful over time. The final chapter of this book analyses the perspectives of sui generis intellectual property protection for works generated by AI systems.

The deployment of increasingly powerful AI systems, able to function with increasing degree of autonomy, has led to concerns over loss of human control of important societal processes, over the disruption of existing economic, social and legal relationships, and over the empowerment of some societal actors at the expense of others, together with the entrenchment of situations of domination or discrimination. It has also made increasingly clear how tremendous the potential benefits, that these technologies may bring, are to those who successfully develop and deploy them. There is therefore great pressure on governments, international institutions, public authorities, civil society organisations, industry bodies and individual firms to introduce or adapt mechanisms and structures that will avoid the potentially negative outcomes of AI and achieve the positive ones. These mechanisms and structures, which have been given the umbrella term 'AI governance', cover a wide range of approaches, from individual firms introducing ethical principles which they volunteer to abide by, to the European Union legislating an AI Act, which will prohibit certain types of AI applications and impose binding obligations on AI developers and deployers.