AI and Copyright: Uncomfortable Bedfellows

Franklin Graves is an in-house attorney based in Nashville, TN. He is currently Technology Counsel at HCA Healthcare, Inc., and previously served as Commercial Counsel for Eventbrite, Inc., and Corporate Counsel for Naxos Music Group. Franklin is an active member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Law, currently serving on the AI Task Force and as Co-Chair of the Copyright and Emerging Technology Committee. Franklin also runs the weekly Creator Economy Law newsletter on LinkedIn and accompanying Creator Economy Law website.

Elizabeth is an advisor, attorney, and author located in Los Angeles, California. In addition to her law practice, she currently serves as an emerging technology advisor with The Cantellus Group, an attorney and researcher with The Artificial Inventor Project, and as a policy advisor in blockchain/web3 for the XR Safety Initiative. 

With over 10 years of legal practice experience, her law office has served clients since 2015 in contracts, health law, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, negotiation of restrictive covenants, estate planning, asset protection through trust formation, civil litigation, and non-profit.

 Her interest in blockchain began in 2017 with cryptocurrency and has evolved into a passion for advising and investing in the web3 space. In 2020, she completed certifications as a Blockchain Solutions Architect and Entry-Level Python Coder. I

n 2022, she completed a certificate program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Artificial Intelligence: Implications on Business Strategy. As a curator of digital art, including AI art, at galleries and in virtual spaces she has taken a particular interest in the fate of works generated by AI under United States copyright law.

Arkadi De Proft is an attorney and a published author on copyright law and new media. His latest article, “Intellectual Property in Esports: Rightsholders v The World”, will be published in this month’s issue of the European Intellectual Property Review. The opinion is largely based on his award-winning research into the relationship between esports and copyright, for which Google bestowed upon him their Diversity Thesis Copyright Award. Arkadi is a member of the Executive Committee of then BHBA’s Entertainment Law Section, as well as a member of the Esports Bar Association. He is also an advising member of the American Bar Association’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Task Force on Intellectual Property. Arkadi is a New Technology Jurisprudence Specialist at PLF (www.creativelaw.com).

David B. Hoppe is the founder and managing partner of Gamma Law. Mr. Hoppe is an experienced international transactional lawyer and a recognized authority on emerging legal issues in high-growth media/technology sectors, including video games and esports, blockchain and digital assets, VR/AR/XR, and digital media/entertainment. Over a career spanning nearly three decades, based in New York, Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Stockholm, and Helsinki, Mr. Hoppe has advised clients ranging from the world’s largest corporations to founders and early-stage startups on matters ranging from international debt and equity financings, venture capital and M&A transactions, to high-value content and technology licensing agreements, film/TV option agreements, and crypto/blockchain regulatory compliance.