Ethics and Intellectual Property
Last week we discussed the Internet of Things (IoT) and its often-complicated relationship to the Ethics of Things (EoT).
A closely related topic is the ethical impact of the IoT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on intellectual property (IP), which is the driving force behind the rapid technological advances of the last century or so. Given the federal government’s nearly exclusive control over the economic protection of IP through the granting and protection of patents, copyrights, and trademarks, there is often a rush to get to the United States Patent and Trademark Office or the Copyright Office to gain legal protection for the same or at least rather similar IP being developed by others.
Not surprisingly, the first to get to the relevant bureaucracy with the proper paperwork is generally the one that ends up owning the government monopoly on the IP, regardless of who actually made or used the IP first. In the rush for government protection, the ethical question of who truly was first in the advancement is generally cast aside in favor of the lucre to be made from the IP. History is littered with inventors and authors whose creations were stolen by those who knew best how to play the government game.
However, the government’s grant of patent, trademark, or copyright protection does not always guarantee prosperity or signal the end of disputes over IP ownership. The most famous and perhaps earliest example of this was the genius Nikola Tesla, whose advancements in the field of electronics are legendary and who was awarded as many as 300 patents internationally but ended up in patent litigation with Edison and Marconi and died a pauper despite all his inventions and numerous patents, some licensed to industry giants such as Westinghouse.
A question likely to be asked in the not-too-distant future is who owns the IP created by machines utilizing AI. Can a machine create inventions (subject to patents), or original works of authorship (subject to copyright), or develop a logo or marketing scheme (subject to trademark) without human intervention? If it can, who owns the IP the machine created? Can machines even own rights or is that something reserved to human beings? What about cybernetic organisms such as Commander Data from Star Trek?® As sentient beings, would it be unethical to deny them rights?
The question is complicated even further by the tremendous amount of cross-licensing of IP in modern electronic devices, and the fact that only human beings can be listed as inventors on patents and authors on copyrights, even when they are technically owned by corporations.
Who will have the strongest ethical claim to ownership of IP created by AI (regardless of whatever the legal outcome may be) is an issue far from being decided.
The ETHIX360 blog brings you weekly updates on all things human resources and compliance.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Keith Wileman is Senior Trial Counsel at Milstein Jackson Fairchild & Wade, LLP. He has tried jury and bench trials in state and federal courts in his over 30 years of experience as a trial lawyer. He has been AV®rated by Martindale-Hubbell – the highest ranking available – as a preeminent attorney since 1988, and recognized as a Super Lawyer on multiple occasions. Connect with Keith here.
ABOUT ETHIX360
At ETHIX360, our goal is simple: to provide an affordable, flexible, and comprehensive answer to employee communication, policy management, corporate training and case management on issues related to corporate ethics, code of conduct, fraud, bribery, and workplace violence.
