newtech.law - legal aspects of new technologies

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) was set up in 2009 by members of the G20 to coordinate the work of financial authorities at the international level and promote and develop financial stability policies. It is made up of representatives of state authorities responsible for finances from 24 countries, financial institutions, and supervisory and regulatory authorities.

Several recent meetings and discussions about the blockchain have made me realise the growing antagonism that exists between the law and the blockchain. This conflict is largely the result of misunderstandings, which need prompt clarification.

Many startups offer their clients big data analysis services based on machine-learning algorithms. The results of such analyses can be of interest to any companies profiling their products or marketing campaigns. But for the analysis to be reliable, it takes data—the more the better. Algorithms using machine learning must have something to learn from. The accuracy of the forecasts subsequently developed for business aims will depend on the scope of the training data fed to them. If the algorithm is limited from the start to analysis of an abridged sample of observations, the risk increases that it will incorrectly group data, overlooking important correlations or causal connections—or see them where they don’t exist. Only training the algorithm on large datasets can minimise the risk of shortcomings in diagnosis and prognosis.

Conversation with Monika A. Górska and Lena Marcinoska of the Intellectual Property Practice at Wardyński & Partners about whether the blockchain may be regarded as a new area of use.

Newtech.law: Blockchain based solutions are developing rapidly in various sectors of the economy. Have they also entered the creative sectors?

Monika A. Górska: Definitely. DLT technology may be used successfully to record intellectual property rights and to register transactions involving creative work. Moreover, most computer programs are written today with a blockchain project capability.

Newtech.law: Does the arrival of blockchain-based solutions give rise to any problems with copyright agreements?

Changes regarding EU trademarks entered into force on 1 October 2017.

Multimedia marks combine image and sound, and can be for example animations launched on mobile devices or apps, film studio jingles, brief video clips, and so on.

Now filings can be made to register multimedia trademarks in the form of an MP4 file of up to 20 MB.

While most countries have not given any thought yet to regulations governing artificial intelligence, and the European Union is only at the stage of adopting resolutions recognising the need to examine this topic, Estonia is not only drafting its own legal act but wants the law to be exceptionally innovative.