Artificial Intelligence and Inventorship Under U.S. Patent Law
In recent years, the capabilities of, and applications involving, artificial intelligence (“AI”) have dramatically increased, so much so that AI systems are now able to produce works of creativity and ingenuity once thought only to be possible through human efforts. The U.S. Copyright Office has already wrestled with the question of whether creative works authored by AI are eligible for federal copyright protection and determined that they are not in an opinion letter dated February 14, 2022.
A Victory for Prescribers: Government Now Subject to Heightened Standard of Proof
In a recent win for healthcare practitioners, the Supreme Court in Ruan v. United States held that, to convict individuals of violating the Controlled Substances Act, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly or intentionally acted in an unauthorized manner. The decision resolves a split among federal circuit courts. As a result of the split, healthcare practitioners were held to different standards related to the requisite state of mind for conviction under the CSA solely based on the location of their practice. In other words, a physician convicted in one state could have avoided conviction in another. The Supreme Court’s adoption of a universal standard cures this injustice.
Intellectual Property in the Metaverse
The Metaverse, often characterized as the next level in the evolution of the Internet, is intended to be a virtual-reality, three-dimensional environment where users are able to interact meaningfully with not only other users but with the virtual environment itself. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook (re-branded as Meta) has characterized the Metaverse as “an embodied internet where you’re in the experience, not just looking at it.”
Wait . . . What About Trade Secrets?
When one seeks to protect one’s intellectual property, patents, trademarks and copyrights immediately come to mind. Often given short shrift is the "forgotten stepchild" —trade secrets. Trade secrets may encompass a wide range of business information that (a) has value because it is not generally known in the trade and (b) is subject to reasonable efforts to preserve its confidentiality. When considering trade secrets, “business information” should be given a very broad definition and may include, but is not necessarily limited to, processes, procedures, research projects, nonpublic company documents (relating to, for example, recruiting, accounting, financial information and legal information), drawings, blueprints, laboratory notebooks, test data, training manuals, customer information and supplier information.
NIL Compensation for High School Athletes: The Future is Now
Next month, the Ohio High School Athletic Association (“OHSAA”) member schools will vote on whether to allow high school athletes to be paid for the name, image, and likeness (“NIL”). If approved, Ohio will join Alaska, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Utah, which already allow high school athletes to profit from their NIL. Other states, like Tennessee and Mississippi, recently amended their NIL statutes in a manner that will likely allow for NIL in high school sports.
Another Surprise! The No Surprises Act Requires Consumer Disclosures
In December 2020, Congress signed into law the No Surprises Act (NSA) addressing surprise medical billing. Specifically, the NSA prohibits out-of-network health care providers and facilities from balance billing certain commercially insured patients in certain circumstances.
Surprise! The No Surprises Act Applies to All Cash-Pay Medical Services
The federal No Surprises Act (the “NSA”) requires all healthcare service providers to provide accurate and reliable cost estimates (Good Faith Estimates) to patients paying cash for services. The NSA’s Good Faith Estimate requirement has not received the media or industry press enjoyed by the balance billing prohibitions applicable to out-of-network (“OON”) emergency services providers, OON ancillary service providers at in-network facilities, and OON air ambulance providers, but may actually be the biggest surprise in the NSA.
Understanding the Legal and Ethical Obligations When it Comes to Public Procurement
Last month, a jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina found a former executive of Ohio-based Contech Engineered Solutions LLC, Brent Brewbaker, guilty of conspiracy to rig bids, conspiring to commit fraud, and related charges on over 300 North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) projects. Brewbaker faces a maximum of 10 years in prison for the bid-rigging conspiracy count and 20 years for each of the other counts.