Leading international intellectual property (IP) firm, Marks & Clerk is delighted to bring together three thought leaders in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to discuss the findings of the firm’s hotly anticipated third annual AI Report.
This year, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has dominated headlines. Generative AI, such as deepfakes and ChatGPT, has caused excitement and controversy in equal measure, as society wrestles with both its potential and the new legal and ethical questions it raises. As a renowned leader in this space, Marks & Clerk has been at the forefront of the European Patent Office’s (EPO’s) engagement with the patent profession as they try to bring some legal certainty and consistency to examining AI patent applications within this rapidly evolving environment.
During this masterclass, we will discuss key considerations that companies and market players should be aware of as they look to secure their lucrative share of new markets as a result of the surge in popularity of AI, including:
Marks & Clerk is a world-leader in AI and how firms can protect its use. Between 2015 and 2022, Marks & Clerk filed more patent applications for AI inventions than any other firm and has a market leading allowance rate. Of the AI applications closed in 2022 Marks & Clerk had a 66% allowance rate, compared to an average of 53%.
Speakers
Mike Williams, Partner
Mike is an expert in patent matters relating to digital technologies, and in particular artificial intelligence (AI). Mike is the lead partner on our AI reports, in which we studied the impact of the spectacular growth in AI on patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO) over the last two decades.
Mike’s background in Computer Science, in which he holds a master’s degree from University of Manchester, gives him the ideal technical foundation to understand his client’s inventions in all matters of digital technologies. In addition to artificial intelligence, Mike has extensive experience of patent matters relating to all aspects of computer science, including signal processing, image analysis, communications protocols, computer graphics. Mike also is also an expert in the area of lithographic systems, analogue and digital electronics.
Mike's uses his technical expertise and commercial focus to advise a broad range of clients from large multinational companies to universities and SMEs. Mike’s international practice means that he is fluent in drafting and prosecuting patent applications throughout the world, and advising clients to navigate contentious matters.
Lara Sibley, Partner
A large part of Lara’s practice relates to protecting inventions in the Artificial Intelligence field, and she has particular experience with applications in areas such as natural language processing, medical imaging and home automation.
She advises clients across the world on patenting AI innovations and has given numerous presentations in Japan on the EPO approach to AI. Alongside her work in the AI space, Lara also works across a range of technologies in the software and electronics sectors, including in particular cryptography, Agritech, video coding (including standards essentiality evaluations), medical devices, wireless networking, optical devices and semiconductor devices.
Lara has successfully represented clients at oral proceedings at the EPO, and has experience of EPO opposition and appeal proceedings. Lara acts on behalf of clients of all sizes, from individual inventors, through to SMEs and large multinationals. She has experience prosecuting applications in multiple jurisdictions including Europe, the US, China and Japan.
Martin Bell, Senior Associate
Martin joined Marks & Clerk in 2015 as a trainee patent attorney in the Oxford office. He graduated from Oxford University in 2004 with a first class Masters Degree in Chemistry and was then awarded a D.Phil. in Physical and Theoretical Chemistry in 2008 for his research applying methods of particle accelerator physics to study low temperature chemical reactions. Following this, Martin remained in Oxford as a postdoctoral research associate before working as a software engineer for a company specialising in analytics and scientific software. Martin works with a range of clients, including a nuclear fusion scale-up. He has experience of drafting and prosecuting machine learning patent applications and is very comfortable with complex technical and mathematical subject matter.