The Technology Platform

As AI continues to develop at a staggering pace, advanced AI-generative tools are becoming more widespread and easily accessible, sparking concerns about its uses. One major issue is the proliferation of deepfakes - non-consensual, AI-generated or altered images, videos, or audio depicting a person doing or saying something which is actually fabricated.

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of activity before both the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and national courts in the UK and Germany in a dispute between InterDigital and Amazon relating to digital streaming patents and FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) licence terms. For ease of reference, this article uses the term 'FRAND', although the standards in this case technically refer to 'RAND' (reasonable and non-discriminatory); there is no practical difference between the two.

Mishcon de Reya has advised the management team at Calastone on its acquisition by SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (“SS&C” or Group: Nasdaq: SSNC), a global leader in investment and financial services software and solutions, in a transaction valued at approximately £766 million (approximately US $1.03 billion).

On 20 October 2020, the US Department of Justice and 11 US states brought a claim against Google, alleging that the tech giant violated US competition law on the online search market (United States et al. v Google). On 17 December 2020, a similar claim was brought by 38 US states (State of Colorado et al. v Google). The two cases were subsequently consolidated.

The UK lacks overarching deepfake legislation, leaving victims facing a complex patchwork of existing laws including intellectual property, data protection, defamation and malicious falsehood. While the Government has recently introduced criminal sanctions relating to non-consensual intimate deepfakes, significant gaps remain.

The Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has published a rapid evidence review of 'skins gambling', namely the use of virtual items obtained in online video games as stakes in gambling.

Dr Stephen Thaler has become well known in the patent sphere for his global attempts to register patents for two inventions created by his AI machine, DABUS, and naming DABUS (rather than himself) as the inventor. In most jurisdictions, these applications have been refused; only South Africa has accepted one, likely due to basic formal application requirements.

Mishcon de Reya has strengthened its corporate innovation offering with the appointment of Corporate Partner Phil Robinson, who brings extensive expertise in venture capital and technology within the innovation economy.

Artificial intelligence has become a pivotal element in the fraud landscape, with its capabilities being exploited by criminals to enhance the sophistication of their schemes.