Artificial Intelligence & Intellectual Property: The way forward for Australia

Join us for a multidisciplinary discussion of the future of intellectual property in Australia in an age of Artificial Intelligence. We will explore professional, industry and academic perspectives on intellectual property (IP) protections for artificial intelligence (AI) products and processes.

Co-hosted by the Technology for an Open Society Research Group at Macquarie Law School, the Australian Digital Alliance, and the Australian Society for Computers & Law.

Thought-Leader Panel

Welcome - Professor Niloufer Selvadurai - Macquarie Law School

Co-chairs - Dr Rita Matulionyte and Dr Daniela Simone - Macquarie Law School

Speakers (Alphabetical order)

Ali Akbari - AI Capability Lead, KPMG

Nina Fitzgerald - Partner, Ashurst Solicitors

Dr Pierre Oliviere - Head of Futures Strategy, UK Intellectual Property Office

Ben Rice - President, Australia Digital Alliance

Scroll down for bios on each of our speakers

More about the event

AI technologies are increasingly being applied across different sectors and industries and, arguably, have the potential to autonomously generate inventions and artistic creations. Recently, the Federal Court of Australia allowed the listing of an AI-generated module, ‘DABUS’, as inventor in a patent application. While the Australian government has been actively involved in promoting AI innovation, there has been limited policy discussion on how IP laws apply to AI-generated outputs and whether IP protection is appropriate in promoting AI innovation.

A variety of nations, including the United Kingdom, are seeking to identify gaps in the current IP law framework and develop appropriate laws and policies. The goal of this webinar is to stimulate policy discussion on whether current Australian IP laws are suitable in the age of AI, and consider the role of courts and law makers in refining IP law to address the challenges posed by this new and evolving technology.

Speaker bios

Professor Niloufer Selvadurai - Macquarie Law School

Professor Niloufer Selvadurai is a technology law scholar who researches and teaches on the effective governance of emerging technologies, focussing on AI. Niloufer is the Program Director of Legal and Ethics at the Optus Macquarie Cyber Security Hub. She is an academic partner of the Digital Finance CRC that is developing a commercial, technological and regulatory framework for the digitisation of real-world assets. Niloufer is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Technology Policy Law and Telecommunications Editor of the Australian Journal of Competition and Consumer Law. Prior to joining Macquarie, Niloufer practised as a solicitor at Ashurst and worked at Allens.

Dr Rita Matulionyte - Macquarie Law School

Dr Rita Matulionyte is a senior lecturer and researcher in law at Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University. She is an international expert in intellectual property and technology law, with her most recent research focusing on legal and governance issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence technologies. She currently leads projects on Government use of face recognition technologies: legal challenges and possible solutions and Towards More Transparent and Explainable Artificial Intelligence Technologies in Healthcare. Rita has over 40 research papers published by leading international publishers and was invited to present her research in conferences in Europe, US, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. She has prepared expert reports for the European Commission, the European Patent Office, and for the governments of South Korea and Lithuania. She is a member of the management committee of the Australian Society for Computers and Law (AUSCL).

Dr Daniela Simone - Macquarie Law School

Dr Daniela Simone is a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie Law School with a special interest copyright law and the challenges of the digital age. Daniela holds DPhil, MPhil and BCL from the University of Oxford and BA/LLB (Hons I) from the University of Sydney. Daniela has discussed her research on Artificial Intelligence at the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s second and third Global Conversations on AI an IP. Her recent monograph, Copyright and Collective Authorship: Locating the Authors of Collaborative Work (Cambridge University Press, 2019), was cited by the Court of Appeal (England and Wales) and her research has been published in leading journals (e.g. Modern LRev, EIPR, King’s LJ, etc). Until 2020, Daniela held positions as Lecturer in Law and Co-Director of the Institute of Brand and Innovation Law at University College London where she retains an honorary affiliation. Daniela is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a qualified lawyer having previously worked at global commercial law firm, Ashurst.

Panellists (Alphabetical Order)

Dr Ali Akbari - AI Capability Lead, KPMG

Dr Ali Akbari is an industry expert with a PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology specialised in computer vision. In the past 15 years he has combined the science aspect of AI with his background in robotics and software engineering to bring to life many commercial solutions around the APAC region. Currently he is a director at KPMG and the national AI capability lead. Ali is specialised in processing images and textual unstructured data and application of AI/ML in operationalising real-time risk management solutions in various industries including manufacturing, finance, and public sector. Among many other projects he has led the production of the first transactional analytics solution for automated credit risk decisioning at Commonwealth Bank, the AI/ML intelligent targeting engine for Unisys's border protection solution, and the intelligent simulation engine of the largest biometrics solution for a federal government organisation in Australia. In addition to technical expertise Ali has been involved in creating AI Ethics frameworks and is a member of Standards Australia AI standardization committee.

Nina Fitzgerald - Partner, Ashurst Solicitors

Nina Fitzgerald is an alumna of Macquarie University and partner in the IP/Media team at Ashurst. Nina focuses on all aspects of contentious and commercial intellectual property and technology law. Nina regularly acts in precedent setting litigation including highly technical patent matters. On the commercial side, Nina advises a broad range of clients on protection and commercialisation of their intellectual property. Nina is passionate about AI and has published a range of articles and recorded a number of podcasts considering the intersection between AI and law. Nina is also a recognised practitioner in several independent legal directories and named in the Best Lawyers – Australia, IP Stars and IAM Patent 1000 ranks and is admitted to practice law in Australia and Hong Kong.

Dr Pierre Oliviere - Head of Futures Strategy, UK Intellectual Property Office

Dr Pierre Oliviere is Head of Futures Strategy at the UK IPO. After completing a PhD in molecular electronics, Pierre joined the IPO as a patent examiner. He then moved into IP policy and on to work in the European Commission, HM Treasury and the UK Business Department (BEIS) before returning to the UK IPO this year

Ben Rice - President, Australia Digital Alliance

Ben Rice is a lawyer with a background in copyright, public policy and government affairs. He joined the Australian Digital Alliance as Executive Officer after having worked for Policy Australia as a lawyer and Eloquium as a policy advisor. He has extensive experience in copyright policy, providing strategic advice and support to the Board of the ADA. In his role with the ADA, Ben is responsible for conducting research, providing advice, writing submissions in response to government consultations, engaging with stakeholders and monitoring developments in intellectual property, digital technologies and media law. Ben holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Technology, Sydney and is completing a Masters in Public Policy (Economics) at the University of Sydney. Ben also writes about the intersection of law and policy and he has been featured in publications such as The Saturday Paper and The Brief.

Who should attend?

It is our mission to promote interdisciplinary and intergenerational dialogue. We encourage everyone with an interest in the creative industries, innovation, patents, intellectual property, artificial intelligence and the policies and laws that govern those areas to attend. There will also be time allocated for Q&A from the audience with our esteemed panel.