Sub Themes

1. Core Legal & Regulatory Challenges

Regulating AI: From Principles to Enforceable Law
Focus: Comparing the EU's AI Act, the US's NIST framework, and China's AI regulations. Discussing the challenges of creating agile legislation for a fast-evolving technology and the role of standards and conformity assessments.

Data Sovereignty vs. Data Globalization: Navigating Conflicting Regimes
Focus: The impact of GDPR, China's PIPL, and India's DPDP Act 2023 on international business. Examining cross-border data transfer mechanisms (like the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) and the practical challenges of data localization laws.

Liability in the Algorithmic Age: Who is Responsible When AI Fails?
Focus: Exploring the legal frameworks for AI liability, including product liability, negligence, and the proposed EU AI Liability Directive. Case studies in autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and financial services.

Competition Law in Digital Markets: Taming the Tech Titans
Focus: Analysing the new generation of digital market regulations (EU's Digital Markets Act, UK's Digital Markets Unit). Discussing ex-ante regulation, the role of data in market power, and remedies like interoperability and data portability.

2. Technology in Legal Practice and Dispute Resolution

The Future of Dispute Resolution: ODR, Smart Contracts, and AI Judges
Focus: The rise of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platforms. Examining the enforceability of smart contract arbitration clauses and the ethical boundaries of using AI in judicial decision-making.

Legal Tech Transformation: Automating the Law Firm and Access to Justice
Focus: Showcasing AI for contract review, predictive analytics for litigation, and virtual legal assistants. A critical discussion on the "justice gap" and whether technology can truly democratize access to legal services.

Digital Evidence and Forensics: Admissibility in a Cross-Border Context
Focus: The challenges of collecting, authenticating, and presenting digital evidence (from social media, IoT devices, blockchain) in different national courts. Exploring standards for e-discovery and international cooperation.

3. Emerging Technologies and New Legal Frontiers

Web3, DAOs, and DeFi: Building a Legal Identity for a Decentralized World
Focus: The legal status of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). Regulatory approaches to DeFi and stablecoins. How do traditional concepts of jurisdiction and liability apply to stateless, code-based entities?

Quantum Computing and the Law: The Coming Cryptopocalypse
Focus: The imminent threat quantum computers pose to current public-key cryptography. Discussing the legal and security implications for data protection, blockchain, and state secrets, and the global race for post-quantum cryptography.

Regulating Neurotechnology: Protecting Cognitive Liberty and Mental Privacy
Focus: As brain-computer interfaces advance, what new rights are needed? Discussing legal frameworks for data generated from our brains, protection against manipulation, and the concept of "cognitive liberty."

The Metaverse: Property, Identity, and Crime in Virtual Worlds
Focus: Defining digital property rights for virtual assets. Addressing new forms of crime (e.g., NFT theft, virtual assault) and jurisdictional issues. The role of platform TOS vs. national law.

4. Governance, Ethics, and Human Rights

Ethical AI by Design: Implementing the ALTAI Framework
Focus: A practical, hands-on session on implementing the EU's Assessment List for Trustworthy AI (ALTAI). Case studies on bias mitigation, explainability, and human oversight in real-world AI systems.

Government by Algorithm: The Rise of Automated Public Administration
Focus: Examining the use of AI in welfare allocation, predictive policing, and immigration control. Discussing the risks of mass surveillance, algorithmic bias, and the erosion of due process and human discretion.

Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) and FRAND Licensing in the IoT Era
Focus: As every device becomes connected, the licensing of patents essential to technical standards (like 5G) is critical. This session delves into the global disputes over Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) licensing.

Global Cyber Warfare and the Digital Geneva Convention
Focus: Analysing the Tallinn Manual and other international efforts to establish rules for state-sponsored cyber-attacks. Discussing critical infrastructure protection, attribution challenges, and the feasibility of a digital "rules-based order."

5. The Algorithmic Author: AI and the Future of Copyright

Key Discussion Points:

Ownership and Inventorship: Who owns the output of a generative AI model? The user providing the prompt, the company that trained the model, or is it a public domain work? Examining recent legal rulings and patent office guidelines (e.g., Thaler v. Vidal).

Training Data and Infringement: The legal and ethical implications of training AI models on vast, publicly scraped datasets. Discussing lawsuits against AI companies and the applicability of fair use/fair dealing doctrines across different jurisdictions.

The "Human Authorship" Threshold: Is the current copyright framework, built around human creativity, obsolete? Exploring proposals for a new sui generis protection for AI-generated works.

Transparency and Labelling: The push for technical and legal standards to identify AI-generated content, addressing issues of misinformation, provenance, and consumer trust.

6. Data as an Asset: Navigating IP, Trade Secrets, and Ownership in the Internet of Things (IoT) & Big Data Era

Beyond Copyright and Patents: What is the best IP strategy for data? Analyzing the use of trade secrets, contractual agreements (ToS, EULAs), and database rights (particularly in the EU) to protect data compilations.

The IoT Ownership Conundrum: Who owns the data generated by a smart farm sensor, a connected car, or a medical wearable? The manufacturer, the user, or the platform operator?

Interoperability vs. Protection: Balancing the need for data portability and open ecosystems (as promoted by regulations like the EU's Data Act) with the right to protect proprietary data assets.

Anonymization as a Defense: The legal robustness of anonymized and aggregated datasets. When does "anonymous" data become re-identifiable, creating liability and IP risks?

7. The Enforcement Paradox: IP in the Encrypted and Decentralized Web

Liability for Algorithms: The global debate on platform liability (e.g., EU's Digital Services Act). To what extent should platforms be held responsible for AI-recommended infringing content?

Enforcement in a Zero-Trust Environment: The technical and legal hurdles of pursuing infringement on encrypted messaging apps (Telegram, Signal) and peer-to-peer networks.

NFTs and the Metaverse: Applying trademark and copyright law to digital assets and virtual goods. Can you infringe a real-world Gucci handbag by selling a digital version of it? Examining landmark cases.

New Tools for a New Battle: The role of blockchain for provenance tracking, automated takedowns via smart contracts, and the use of AI-powered cyber-intelligence to identify large-scale counterfeit operations.

8. The Green Tech Imperative: Balancing IP Protection with Global Climate Goals

Patents as a Catalyst or a Barrier? Analysing the debate: Do strong patents incentivize green innovation, or do they hinder the widespread adoption of critical technologies in developing nations?

Compulsory Licensing for the Climate: Examining the legal and political feasibility of using compulsory licensing mechanisms (under TRIPS flexibilities) for essential environmental technologies.

Open Innovation Models: Showcasing successful models like the Eco-Patent Commons and the Medicines Patent Pool as potential blueprints for green technology.

Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) for Sustainability: The role of FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) licensing in establishing global standards for clean tech, such as in electric vehicle charging networks.

9. Legal Aspects of Business and Technology with Special Reference to AI

• Strategic Implementation and Management
• Digital Transformation with AI: Strategies for integrating AI technologies (cloud computing, big data) into existing business processes
• Leadership and Change Management and AI Adoption
• AI Governance and Policy
• AI in Operations and Supply Chain Management
• AI-Powered Marketing and Customer Experience
• AI in Finance and Risk Management
• Human Resources and the Future of Work
• Ethical AI and Responsible Development
• Cybersecurity in an AI-Connected World
• Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in Business