The Future of Intellectual Property Rights: A Fireside Chat

The Future of Intellectual Property Rights: A Fireside Chat

Speakers::
Dr. Ryan Abbott, MD, JD, MTOM, Professor of Law, University of Surrey
Gervas Wall, Partner, Deeth Williams Wall LLP
Jennifer Davidson, Associate, Deeth Williams Wall LLP

Date: Monday, February 3, 2020
Time: 12:00 - 2:00 pm

Place:
Deeth Williams Wall LLP
150 York St., Suite 400
Toronto, ON M5H 3S5

New technologies are undercutting the rationale for existing intellectual property regimes at the same time as they undermine available protections. In this moderated discussion, Professor Ryan Abbott of the University of Surrey (UK), an IP professor who co-authored the first patent application in which an AI is listed as the sole inventor, Gervas Wall and Jennifer Davidson of DWW, explore the ability of traditional IP protections – patents, copyrights, industrial designs and trade secrets – to respond to new technologies and whether reforms or entirely new paradigms are required for the 21st century.

About the Speakers

Ryan Abbott, MD, JD, MTOM, is Professor of Law and Health Sciences at the University of Surrey School of Law and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Professor Abbott is a licensed physician, attorney, and acupuncturist in the United States, as well as a solicitor (non-practicing) in England and Wales. Professor Abbott heads an international team of patent attorneys filing applications around the world for AI-conceived inventions including those by the AI known as DABUS (short for “Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience”). These applications, some of which have now been awarded a patent, have made news across the world for its precedent-setting potential paving the way for IP rights in sentient AI.

Professor Abbott’s research has been featured prominently in the media, including in the New York Times, Financial Times, Forbes, and VICE. He routinely gives keynote lectures and presents internationally in academic, government, and industry settings.

Professor Abbott is board certified by the American Board of Legal Medicine. He is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (M.D.) and the Yale Law School (J.D.), as well as a Summa Cum Laude graduate from Emperor's College (M.T.O.M.) and a Summa Cum Laude graduate from University of California, Los Angeles (B.S.). He is a registered patent attorney with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and a member of the California and New York State Bars. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).

Gervas Wall is a founding partner of Deeth Williams Wall LLP. Gervas’s practice extends from the prosecution of patent and trademark applications through to litigation of intellectual property rights. He appears in the courts of the Province of Ontario as well as the Federal Court of Canada, and before the Trade-mark Opposition Board and the Patent Appeal Board.

Jennifer Davidson is an associate at Deeth Williams Wall LLP specializing in Technology Law. Her practice includes advising AI companies on legal and regulatory issues, IP protection and commercialization, and contracting for AI technologies.