Now more than ever, technology is influencing the way we do business, communicate, move through and around the world, access and manage our homes, receive and administer healthcare, make purchases, secure information, and protect our most valuable property. Morrison Foerster keeps pace with this rapidly evolving landscape across our internationally recognized corporate, finance, intellectual property, and litigation practices. MoFo Tech brings together our insights relating to fields such as blockchain and distributed ledger, cloud and as-a-service technologies, driverless cars, drones, fintech, computer hardware and software, the Internet of Things, semiconductors, and telecommunications. The MoFo Tech blog offers real-time, in-depth analyses of the trends and complex issues shaping the global technology industry.<h2>ABOUT MORRISON FOERSTER</h2>Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firm’s commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyer’s A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia‑Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.

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Scott Llewellyn’s practice focuses on complex litigation in federal and state courts around the country, with an emphasis on patent and trade secret disputes. Over the past decade, he has worked on some of the most significant, high–profile IP cases involving technology for televisions, smartphones, and self–driving cars, relying on 40 years of experience with computer hardware and software. Scott also has significant experience with business divorce cases before courts and arbitrators, involving a mix of trade secret, patent, tort, and contract claims relating to technology development and implementation.Scott also has successfully tried general commercial arbitration and agency matters, briefed and argued various appeals in federal appellate court, and tried more than 20 cases for the Denver City Attorney’s office, most of them jury trials.Scott also has an active pro bono practice, having worked on a variety of criminal and immigration appeals, and having represented Colorado criminal defense and mental health organizations in high–profile suits against the state of Colorado for violations of the constitutional rights of defendants.At MoFo, Scott serves on the board of the Morrison & Foerster Foundation. In the broader legal community, he serves on the boards of the Colorado Lawyers Committee and Drop in the Bucket (a charity that builds wells and sanitation systems in sub–Saharan Africa).After law school, Scott clerked for the Honorable Clarence A. Brimmer, District of Wyoming, and the Honorable Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain, Ninth Circuit. He was also previously an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center.

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Partner

Scott Llewellyn’s practice involves complex litigation before state and federal courts around the country, with an emphasis on patent and trade secret disputes for high-tech companies, to which he brings more than 35 years of experience with computer hardware and software, in particular relating to the processing and transmission of audio, video, voice, and other types of data. Mr. Llewellyn has also tried commercial arbitration and agency matters; briefed and argued various appeals in federal appellate court; and tried more than 20 cases for the Denver city attorney’s office, most of them jury trials.

Scott F. Llewellyn

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MoFo Tech brings together legal insights and in-depth analyses on trends and complex issues shaping the global technology industry, covering fields such as blockchain and distributed ledger, cloud and SaaS technologies, driverless cars, drones, FinTech, computer hardware and software, the IoT, semiconductors, and telecommunications.

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MoFo Tech brings together legal insights and in-depth analyses on trends and complex issues shaping the global technology industry, covering fields such as blockchain and distributed ledger, cloud and SaaS technologies, driverless cars, drones, FinTech, computer hardware and software, the IoT, semiconductors, and telecommunications.

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Recentive: Federal Circuit’s Patent-Eligibility Guideposts for Machine-Learning Inventions

Japan’s Approach to AI Regulation in 2025

Federal Circuit Clarifies Requirements for Prior Art Under Pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 102(e)

AI Agent as a Service in Medtech - Key Considerations for Commercial Contracts

D.C. Circuit Holds that Works Created Solely by AI are Not Copyrightable

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Technology is known for solving some of the world’s most complex problems, especially through automation and AI. However, when the right guardrails are not in place, ethical issues arise, such as malfunctioning tools, data or algorithms that exclude certain persons, intrusive technologies that violate human rights, and technologies that compromise safety.Ethical technology, which forms part of a company’s overall ESG strategy, requires companies and entities deploying technology to carefully consider and monitor it, scrutinizing for quality, equity, and safety in the creation, deployment, and post-deployment stages. This will help monitor externalities from technology use and mitigate or remediate risk where necessary.Stakeholders, such as regulators, are leading the charge with regulations and policies on specific issue areas, such as the Additional Federal Guidance on AI risk management, the EU AI Act and other U.S. state-specific regulations. To complement stakeholder efforts, we are supporting companies and developers in preemptively addressing ethical issues in technology deployment as part of their ESG framework, and we expect to see more responsible governance and guardrails set by companies and developers to preempt, prevent, and mitigate technological risks from development to post-deployment stages.This post is a part of a series on trends in the artificial intelligence space for 2023, authored by MoFo lawyers.

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Susan (Suz) Mac Cormac, San Francisco partner, has extensive experience in corporate law, ESG, social enterprise and impact investing, and venture capital.

Susan H. Mac Cormac

Susan H. Mac Cormac | Corporate + ESG Attorney

Susan (“Suz”) co-chairs the ESG + Sustainability and Social Enterprise + Impact Investing practices. Her work focuses on advising innovative sustainable companies and investors, with particular expertise on ensuring investments have positive impact through use of new corporate forms, hybrids, alternative debt and equity instruments and disclosure.

Susan Mac Cormac

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AI Trends for 2023 - Ethical Technology as Part of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework

AI Trends For 2022 - Augmented Reality and Digital Twin Technology

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Technology is known for solving some of the world’s most complex problems, especially through automation and AI. However, when the right guardrails are not in place, ethical issues arise, such as malfunctioning tools, data or algorithms that exclude certain persons, intrusive technologies that violate human rights, and technologies that compromise safety.

AI Trends for 2023 - Ethical Technology as Part of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Framework

During 2023, the UK will continue to position itself as a leader in the AI sector—by emphasizing support for the AI industry rather than pushing forward a legislative agenda.In 2022, the UK government published an AI Regulation Policy Paper and AI Action Plan confirming that it intends to diverge from the EU’s regulatory regime. And the UK also made proposals on one key aspect of AI: the treatment of intellectual property rights. In both cases, the UK appears to be taking an approach that favors innovation over regulation.In 2023, the UK is likely to introduce a new copyright and database right exception that will permit text and data mining (TDM) for any purpose. IP rights-holders will not be able to opt-out of the right but will still have safeguards to protect their content, primarily a requirement that content subject to TDM must be lawfully accessed. So rights-holders will be able to choose the platforms where they make their works available, including charging for access. They will also be able to take appropriate steps to ensure the integrity and security of their systems.It’s intended that the exception will speed up the TDM process, which is often a precursor to the development of AI, and will help to make the UK more competitive as a location for AI developers. Previously, the TDM exception only applied to non-commercial purposes.On the other hand, the UK government axed other AI-related proposals. The UK has no plans to change the law regarding IP in computer-generated works. This means that works which do not have a human author will retain their copyright protection, a unique position in Europe. The government will keep the law under review and could amend, replace, or remove protection in future if the evidence supports it.There will also be no change to UK patent law protection for AI-devised inventions. In response to a UK government consultation, most respondents agreed that changes to the law on inventorship should be harmonized internationally and not implemented piecemeal. The counterview is that the patentability rules ought to change to take account of the increasing contribution of AI in the R&D process and that, when AI technology reaches a stage where it can genuinely “invent,” any inventions devised by AI should be patentable.Although there will be no imminent policy change in the UK, during 2023 the UK Supreme Court is likely to consider a test case on the issue of patentability of AI-derived inventions.This post is a part of a series on trends in the artificial intelligence space for 2023, authored by MoFo lawyers.

Autodesk

HM Revenue and Customs

Home Office, Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health

Intel

ITworx

lastminute.com

NYSE-listed health tech company

One of UK's largest public EV charging networks

Phoenix Group

Telenor

UK Border Agency

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Senior Counsel

Alistair Maughan co-leads Morrison & Foerster's European Technology & Commercial Practice.

Alistair Maughan

Alistair advises on the deployment of new technology platforms involving, for example, the internet of things, AI and machine-learning, and blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

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AI Trends for 2023 - UK Targets Innovation Not Regulation for AI Sector

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During 2023, the UK will continue to position itself as a leader in the AI sector—by emphasizing support for the AI industry rather than pushing forward a legislative agenda.

AI Trends for 2023 - UK Targets Innovation Not Regulation for AI Sector

While the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit made clear this year that only humans can be inventors and that an AI program itself cannot obtain a patent (see our prior coverage of <a href="https://www.mofo.com/resources/insights/220809-federal-circuit-agrees-with-the-uspto" target="_self">Thaler v. Vidal </a>), this in no way means that AI-assisted inventions are not patentable. While the output of an AI program may not be innovative (often it is not novel, for example), the means by which that output can be generated may be. Expect to see more cases that address these issues in the coming year. And, of course, trade secret and copyright protection remain available if the right steps are taken to preserve such rights for all sorts of AI-assisted products and services.﻿ This post is a part of a series on trends in the artificial intelligence space for 2023, authored by MoFo lawyers.

AI Trends for 2023 - IP Protection for AI-Assisted Technology

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Stephanie assists companies with technology and life sciences transactions, representing both private and public companies, from emerging growth through the Fortune 50. In particular, Stephanie focuses on helping companies that leverage data through technology in structuring their business and commercial transactions.

Stephanie Sharron

Stephanie Sharron is partner in the Palo Alto office and a member of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group. Clients turn to Ms. Sharron for advice on how to leverage data through technology and the related issues that apply to their business models in light of the rapid changes in business, technology and law.

Stephanie Lynn Sharron

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AI Trends for 2023 - IP Protection for AI-Assisted Technology

The Collision of AI’s Machine Learning and Manipulation: Deepfake Litigation Risks to Companies from a Product Liability, Privacy, and Cyber Standpoint

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While the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit made clear this year that only humans can be inventors and that an AI program itself cannot obtain a paten

In 2020, Congress passed the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act (NAIIA) to strengthen Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances and innovations across multiple sectors by providing investments to National AI Research Institutes under the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office (NAIIO). The NAIIA requires the NAIIO to submit NAIIA-related budget and program information to Congress annually as part of the president’s budget request.In November of 2022, NAIIO and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program (NITRD) published its annual “<a href="https://www.nitrd.gov/pubs/FY2023-NITRD-NAIIO-Supplement.pdf" target="_blank">Supplement to the President’s Budget</a>.” The report consists of a technical summary of all NITRD budget investments and planned activities and illustrates both enacted and proposed investments by federal agencies for AI Research Institutes under the NAIIO. Notably, the total budget proposal expanded from $7.8 billion in 2022, to $9.6 billion in 2023—an increase of approximately 23.1 percent for all federal agencies’ NITRD-related R&D.Several of the agencies attribute the total upsurge in budget to an increase in AI funding: the Department of Defense (DoD) allocates its $38.2 million increase to AI, the Department of Energy (DOE) requests an additional $26.2 million for AI crosscut and foundational AI research, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) plans to apportion part of its $33.3 million increase to AI portfolio expansion and research, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) intends to use its $19.2 million increase to fund a new National AI Institute and trustworthy AI work.The report also identifies numerous AI R&D strategic priorities for the upcoming fiscal year and beyond, with the stated goal to promote “U.S. leadership and global competitiveness in AI R&D and its applications.” These priorities include making long-term investments in AI research, developing effective methods for human-AI collaboration, understanding both the implications of AI and the national AI R&D workforce needs, and continuing to accelerate advances in AI. In addition, the report identifies certain priorities to control and regulate AI development, including to measure and evaluate AI technologies through standards and benchmarks, to develop shared public datasets and environments for AI training and testing, and to ensure the safety and security of AI systems.﻿ This post is a part of a series on trends in the artificial intelligence space for 2023, authored by MoFo lawyers.

AI Trends for 2023 - Budgeting for the Future of AI

Fertility Center Litigation

Fitbit

MicroPort

Leading Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Device Company

Lethal Injection Matters – Major Pharmaceutical Company

Pain Pump Matters – Large Pharmaceutical Company

Major Technology Company

Leading Chemical Company

Security Device Company

In re Air Crash Near Peixoto de Azevedo, Brazil

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Co-Chair, Litigation Department

Erin Bosman is the global co-chair of Morrison Foerster’s litigation department. Erin is also the founder and co-head of the Artificial Intelligence group and former chair of the Complex Litigation + Advisement practice group. Clients value her business strategy, seeking her comprehensive counsel throughout the product life cycle, especially in high-stakes litigation and product recalls.

Erin M. Bosman

Erin Bosman is the Global Co-Chair of Morrison Foerster’s Litigation Department. Erin is also the founder and co-head of the Artificial Intelligence Group and former chair of the Complex Litigation + Advisement Practice Group. Clients value her business strategy, seeking her comprehensive counsel throughout the product life cycle, especially in high-stakes litigation and product recalls.

Erin Bosman

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Associate

Matt is an associate in the Litigation Department in MoFo’s San Diego office. Matt’s practice focuses on the product lifecycle, from early product development to litigation to end-of-life advisement. He counsels clients through complex consumer product safety regulatory landscapes and product recalls.











Matt Robinson

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AI Trends for 2023 - Budgeting for the Future of AI

AI Trends For 2022 - The IRS will use increased budget resources to achieve a main objective

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In 2020, Congress passed the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act (NAIIA) to strengthen Artificial Intelligence (AI) advances and innovations across multiple sectors by providing investments to National AI Research Institutes under the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office (NAIIO). 

The advent of AI is drastically changing the environmental law landscape. Until recently, it was nearly impossible to track the environmental impacts of corporate activities or products. The sheer immensity and complexity of the numbers shrouded our understanding of environmental inputs and outputs. But now, AI technology makes wrangling those numbers possible, entirely changing the legal field.AI technology will give plaintiffs’ greenwashing claims new teeth. ClimateBert, an AI neural language model, is already being deployed to effectively double-check corporate reporting and disclosures related to emissions. Other tools are being developed to compare climate disclosures with recommended thresholds – essentially trying to catch those businesses hiding in plain sight. And AI’s role will only expand – litigators will be able to quickly and efficiently track the environmental footprint of a product or double-check the environmental claims on a label.Further, AI may be used to assist environmental regulators. A Stanford Law professor, Daniel Ho, alongside others, has recently developed a program to identify and analyze patterns of data to locate industrial animal operations and help regulators determine their environmental risk. These sorts of tools can and will be expanded to regulate all sorts of environmental compliance issues, ranging from overfishing to stormwater pollution.  AI will also change environmental litigation, allowing parties to sort and analyze large amounts of technical data quickly. Complex litigation will be most affected, as the daunting task of sifting through years of hazardous waste or emissions data will quickly be addressed through machine learning. As a result, environmental litigation will become more streamlined, and the effectiveness of the AI employed will become a new legal hurdle.  Businesses should be ready to employ these devices to self-police, as the ubiquity of AI will only make the environmental world more transparent.  ﻿﻿This post is a part of a series on trends in the artificial intelligence space for 2023, authored by MoFo lawyers.

AI Trends for 2023 - Environmental Law

In re Lumber Liquidators Chinese Laminate Litigation

Maxus Energy Corporation

In re Hydroxycut Personal Injury and Class Action Litigation

Los Angeles World Airport (LAWA)

Environmental Law Foundation v. Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp., et al

Fitbit Force Recall 

People of the State of California v. The Coca-Cola Company

Seagate Technology LLC

Clif Bar, Inc.

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Drawing on his considerable experience in environmental health, William (Bill) focuses his practice on environmental and consumer protection law, with an emphasis on climate-related goals and claims, hazardous substances, mass torts, and consumer product safety.

William Tarantino

Drawing on his considerable experience in environmental health, William (Bill) focuses his practice on environmental and consumer protection law, with an emphasis on hazardous substances, mass torts, and consumer product safety.