IP / Regulatory Law Watch Professor Shubha Ghosh, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and Director of Technology Commercialization Law Program and Syracuse Intellectual Property Law Institute offers insights in the three articles below on a Congressional proposal on AI, a NIST march-in rights proposal, and the design patent non-obviousness standard. Congress and the Department of Justice are setting their sights on algorithm-implementing emerging artificial intelligence technologies Recently, the Biden administration and Department of Justice began investigating software companies providing algorithms to landlords to inform their pricing strategies, which detractors claim are contributing to inflation in the rental market. While these investigations have generated significant attention because of how politically charged the housing industry has become in this inflationary environment, it is far from the only example of the DOJ targeting algorithmic AI. The DOJ seems to believe that AI services, which are now utilized in about every sector of the economy, could coordinate collusive, anti-competitive behavior, violative of the nation’s antitrust laws. To assist the DOJ’s efforts, the Senate is considering the Preventing the Algorithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act. This Act will change the procedural and substantive rules of antitrust law to make it easier for enforcers to crack down on algorithms. See Professor Ghosh’s article here. Understanding Law by Visualizing It Every law student learns how to visualize. Flowcharts. Timelines. Transaction diagrams. Corporate ownership. Tax flows. Litigation parties. All help to reduce complex legal scenarios into p’s, d’, arrows, and geometric shape. Now imagine using machine learning and other artificial intelligence features to translate complex legal documents and transactions into visuals that surpass Powerpoint. Imagine how such visualization helps attorneys, clients, and judges better understand the intricacies of litigation or a transaction. A company in Denmark has made what you can imagine a practical reality. Juristic is an innovative company that provides a platform that can transform legal documents, emails, draft contracts, pleadings into comprehensible visuals. Words become images that can be edited, studied, and mastered. I was fortunate to speak with Christian Mellado Hjortshøj, a co-founder of Juristic, with a background in law and technology. He spoke with me about the importance of converting text into visuals, showed me some of the features of Juristic’s software, and answered some of my questions about the regulation of legal tech in Denmark and the relationship between law firms and technology companies. A planned podcast will discuss these issues in more detail. Should March in Rights Be Expanded? The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has proposed exposed march-in rights in order to lower the price for products built on patented technologies. More information on the proposal can be found here. Professor Ghosh was invited to participate in a panel evaluating this proposal which can be viewed here. Federal Circuit Overrules 42-Year Old Precedent on Nonobviousness of Design Patent In May, an en banc panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overruled the 1982 precedent for determining when a design patent is non-obvious. At issue is a patent infringement dispute involving a design patent covering the front fender on an automotive body. LKQ challenged the nonobviousness of the design based on two pieces of prior art in a proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). Read Professor Ghosh’s full article here. Comprehensive Federal Consumer Privacy Bill Moves Forward Congress once again moves closer to imposing a federal standard for consumer data privacy. The American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) would eliminate the current patchwork system of state-by-state data privacy legislation. The bill focuses on data minimization, transparency, and consumer control. Read more about what obligations the APRA imposes on covered entities here. Ag Innovation Challenge Extends Application Deadline The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has extended the deadline to apply online for the 2025 Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge. In its 11th year, this national competition showcases U.S. startup companies developing innovative solutions to challenges faced by America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities. Past winners include Barn Owl Precision, an autonomous micro-tractor company, and Harvust, a farm HR software company. Read more about the Ag Innovation Challenge here. | 
