IPR: Some hot topics
Last week I had the pleasure of participating in Advanced IP Business Strategy Academy arranged by IPR University Center. An event well worth attending! As the legal landscape is changing before our eyes, the companies who are on top of things will be able not only to mitigate risk but be able to extract additional value out of their IPR’s in the evolving business environment. A few topical issues that were extensively discussed at the seminar:
IP strategies are especially important for protecting and defending emerging technologies. In addition to its core IP, a company needs to secure access to supporting IP, all the while monitoring the larger IP environment within which it operates. A company thus needs to have an IP strategy that supports the company’s overall business strategy.
EU’s upcoming Data and Digitalization Regulation, the so-called Big 5, i.e., the Data Act, the Data Governance Act, the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the Digital Services Act are currently hot topics. The new regulation will have both horizontal and vertical effects, and GDPR requirements will continue to apply. Companies operating with data sets within the IoT market will under the Data Act be obliged to share data relating to the usage data of IoT products. These regulations grant rights to users while setting out obligations for the holder of the data. This will require companies operating in this area to review its agreements to comply with the Data Act’s requirements for agreement terms regarding data sharing.
In addition to affecting contractual clauses, the Data Act’s obligation for data holders to make data accessible gives rise to interpretations regarding first, whether and to what extent IoT data constitutes trade secrets and second, the circumstances under which also trade secrets may need to be shared. It is evident that different interpretations of the aforesaid will lead to quite different outcomes in practice. Keep your eyes open for continued discussions on these topics!
Thank you IPR University Center for a thorough review of the current topical legal and strategic questions relating to IPR’s.
