Innovation, Quantum-AI Technology & Law

Blog over Kunstmatige Intelligentie, Quantum, Deep Learning, Blockchain en Big Data Law

Blog over juridische, sociale, ethische en policy aspecten van Kunstmatige Intelligentie, Quantum Computing, Sensing & Communication, Augmented Reality en Robotica, Big Data Wetgeving en Machine Learning Regelgeving. Kennisartikelen inzake de EU AI Act, de Data Governance Act, cloud computing, algoritmes, privacy, virtual reality, blockchain, robotlaw, smart contracts, informatierecht, ICT contracten, online platforms, apps en tools. Europese regels, auteursrecht, chipsrecht, databankrechten en juridische diensten AI recht.

Berichten in Quantum Technology
Mauritz Kop Guest Professor at US Air Force Academy

Colorado Springs, April 25, 2024. We are pleased to highlight Professor Mauritz Kop's recent engagement as a guest professor at the prestigious United States Air Force Academy on April 25, 2024. Professor Kop, Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT), addressed talented cadets on "Models for Responsible Regulation of Quantum Information Sciences." The class was an integral part of the Law and Emerging Tech program, led by Professor Aubrey Davis.

Professor Kop's lecture provided a comprehensive overview of the rapidly evolving landscape of quantum technologies and the critical need for proactive, responsible governance, particularly in the context of global geopolitical dynamics.

The Quantum Frontier: Opportunities and Geostrategic Challenges

The session commenced by acknowledging the significant global interest and investment in quantum technologies, noting China's relentless advances in AI and quantum, particularly in quantum networking, which has spurred anxieties about America’s technological supremacy. This technological race brings forth a deeper, existential concern: the potential effects of authoritarian regimes exporting their values into democratic societies through their technology.

Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT) and Its Operationalization

The discussion delved into the critical concept of Quantum-ELSPI (Ethical, Legal, Socio-economic, and Policy Implications), which must be proactively considered for any emerging technology. Quantum-ELSPI, he argued, should inspire the practice of Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT). The Stanford-led RQT framework integrates ELSPI perspectives into quantum R&D, deployment, and adoption, responding to the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) dimensions of anticipation, inclusion, reflection, and responsiveness (AIRR).

To make RQT actionable, Professor Kop introduced the 10 Principles for Responsible Quantum Innovation, developed by his multidisciplinary research group. These principles are organized under the SEA framework (Safeguarding, Engaging, and Advancing Quantum Technology) and aim to guide regulatory interventions and cultivate responsible practices across precautionary and permissionless innovation systems. Operationalizing these principles requires continuous multi-stakeholder collaboration throughout the lifecycle of quantum systems, involving standard-setting bodies like ISO, NIST, and IEEE, and potentially new oversight mechanisms like an "Atomic Agency for Quantum-AI".

The Role of Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Education

Highlighting the importance of diverse perspectives, Professor Kop, who integrates his background in law, music, and art into his quantum work, emphasized the need to go beyond siloed approaches to solve the hypercomplex matters arising from quantum technology. He referenced the Stanford Center for RQT's work, its multidisciplinary approach to tackling ELSPI, and its mission to foster competitive, values-based, equitable quantum ecosystems. Initiatives like the annual Stanford RQT Conference and the newly launched Stanford Quantum Incubator aim to bring the quantum community together, bridge gaps between academia, government, investors, and industry, and promote quantum literacy.

Professor Kop concluded by underscoring the urgent need for developing robust models for the responsible regulation of quantum information sciences to ensure that these powerful new capabilities benefit humanity and uphold democratic values.

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Hoover Institution Invites Mauritz Kop to Speak on Quantum, Democracy and Authoriarianism

Professor Mauritz Kop Addresses Quantum Technology's Role in the Era of Digital Repression at Hoover Institution Workshop

Palo Alto, CA – April 22, 2024 – Professor Mauritz Kop, Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT), delivered insightful opening remarks at a breakout session on Quantum Technology as part of the two-day closed door workshop, "Getting Ahead of Digital Repression: Authoritarian Innovation and Democratic Response." The workshop, held on April 22-23, 2024, at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, was a collaborative effort by the National Endowment for Democracy’s International Forum for Democratic Studies, Stanford University’s Global Digital Policy Incubator, and the Hoover Institution’s China’s Global Sharp Power Project.

The event convened leading researchers and advocates to map how digital authoritarians are innovating globally and to identify new strategies for ongoing knowledge-sharing and cooperation to confront this deepening challenge. The agenda focused on understanding how autocrats leverage emerging technologies—from AI and digital currencies to quantum technology—for social control, censorship, and to export their governance models.

Guardrails Against Digital Authoritarianism

Professor Kop's address served as a crucial discussion starter for the breakout session, which aimed to brainstorm how advances in quantum technology might alter the dynamics of the struggle against digital authoritarianism and to explore potential guardrails. His remarks underscored the profound societal impact of quantum technologies and the imperative for proactive, principles-based governance to ensure they are developed and deployed responsibly, safeguarding human rights and democratic values on a global scale.

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Stanford University Launches Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology

Stanford, CA – December 6, 2023 – Stanford University today announced the launch of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology (RQT), a pioneering initiative dedicated to addressing the profound ethical, legal, social, and policy implications of the rapidly advancing field of quantum technologies, including quantum artificial intelligence (QAI). The Center, part of the Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology (LST) at Stanford Law School (SLS), is believed to be the first academic center of its kind.

Dutch Network for Academics in the USA Semicon, Geopolitics and Shared Values Event

The announcement was made during a distinguished Dutch Network for Academics in the USA event focused on semicon, geopolitics and shared democratic values, presented by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). The occasion was graced by the presence of outgoing Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Nobel Prize winner and Stanford School of Business Professor Guido Imbens, Stephen Harris Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Mark Brongersma, and William H. Neukom Professor of Law Mark Lemley, who is also the Director of the LST program and serves as the faculty leader of the new Quantum Institute.

Mauritz Kop Founding Director of the Stanford Center for Responsible Quantum Technology

Mauritz Kop, who founded and directs the Center and began his tenure as a Transatlantic Technology Law Forum Fellow at Stanford Law School in 2019, highlighted the critical juncture at which the Center is being established. "Quantum technologies—especially in the areas of encryption, computing, and sensors—were rapidly evolving from hypothetical ideas to commercial realities," Kop observed. "Here, I determined, was where the most interesting–and pressing–questions of law and policy lay. Put simply, quantum technology involves the smallest particles in the universe but has the potential to create some of the world’s biggest technological quandaries and opportunities."

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Stanford Responsible Quantum Technology Conference 2023

Stanford, CA – May 22, 2023 – The 21st century is undeniably the Quantum Age, and on May 22, 2023, Stanford University hosted the inaugural Stanford Responsible Quantum Technology Conference at the iconic Paul Brest Hall, Stanford Law School. This landmark annual event, themed "Quantum-ELSPI" for its first iteration, brought together the global quantum community to explore the multifaceted ethical, legal, socio-economic, and policy implications (ELSPI) of this transformative field.

The conference was designed as a unique confluence of quantum physics, law, and art, aiming to discuss informed suggestions on how to balance maximizing the benefits and mitigating the risks of applied quantum technology. It covered state-of-the-art quantum computing, sensing, simulation, communication, materials, and quantum-classical hybrids, all within diverse multidisciplinary settings and taking a pro-innovation stance.

A Day of Interdisciplinary Exploration and Artistic Inspiration

The day was marked by deeply interdisciplinary presentations and an elegant intellectual atmosphere, uniquely punctuated by live musical interludes featuring works by Mozart, Schönberg, and Chopin, and opera arias by Handel, Liszt, and Gounod. Attendees also witnessed interactive quantum physics experiments, including demonstrations of quantum sensing and interferometry, designed to make the counter-intuitive quantum world more accessible.

The program began with Opening Remarks by Mauritz Kop of Stanford University, AIRecht.nl, and Daiki. This set the stage for a day of profound discussions.

What Responsible Quantum Technology & Innovation Entails

As attendees experienced, the conference provided an illuminating platform for discussing the state-of-the-art in quantum science, governance tipping points, risk-benefit analyses, intellectual property, societal impact assessments, and the myriad exciting novel use cases being developed. The discussions on what Responsible Quantum Technology & Innovation truly entails in diverse, multidisciplinary, and intergenerational settings were a highlight for all participants.

Mauritz Kop offered closing remarks, and the day concluded with a reception, further fostering the sense of community and shared purpose.

Deep gratitude was extended to all the speakers, moderators, musicians (Ireh Kim, Jin-Hee Catherine Lee, Zoe Logan Schramm, Katie Liu, Daniel Changxiao Sun, and Mauritz Kop), and physicists (Franz Inthisone Pfanner, Daniel Changxiao Sun) who contributed to the success of this inaugural event. Special thanks were also conveyed to Professor Mark Lemley and the team at Stanford Law School for making this memorable conference a reality.

The Stanford Responsible Quantum Technology Conference has set a high bar for future discussions, and the quantum community eagerly anticipates Stanford RQT 2.0.

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Mauritz Kop calls for a Quantum Governance Act at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law

Much enjoyed giving a lecture titled ‘Quantum-ELSPI: A Call for a Quantum Governance Act’ on Thursday June 9, 2022 at the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law. This was an internal CeBiL event that took place before The Quantum Future symposium, organized by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and its newly established Committee for Quantum Information and Quantum Computing, together with the Niels Bohr Institute’s Quantum Life Centre.

EU Quantum Governance Act

With its own Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics in which physical phenomena must be observed and measured to exist, the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Law was the perfect place to propose an outline for a novel Quantum Governance Act on a European level, fostering open innovation while putting targeted, technology and industry specific risk based controls in place. The EU Quantum Act should jointly optimize advancing quantum technology (investment and innovation) with safeguaring quantum technology, society and humankind (guardrails, standards, values, IP protection and national security). For example, it could contain a product safety regime as found in the EU AI Act, combined with pro-innovation mechanisms as found in the US CHIPS Act. In addition, I connected regulating quantum to regulating general purpose technologies (GPT) like artificial intelligence (AI), but also to nanotechnology, biotechnology, semiconductors, and last not least to managing dual use fissionable materials such as nuclear isotopes and nuclear weapons, utilizing export and intellectual property controls.

The Law of Quantum: Quantum Regulatory Frameworks

The Quantum & Law lecture gave an overview of work done over the past 3 years on quantum regulatory frameworks, incentive and rewards systems, competition law, beyond intellectual property innovation law, ethics, national security policy, standardization, technology impact assessment, benchmarking and certification published or forthcoming in high impact journals at both sides of the Atlantic. My talk ended with discussing the latest research findings pertaining to the Law of Quantum, and Quantum-ELSPI academic disciplines. Thanks to the participants for their inspiring questions and comments!

Panel Debate about the Quantum Future at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences

The brilliant lectures on atoms, photons, qubits, the nature of quantum information, the history of quantum physics, and current research into quantum computer paradigms -including combatting decoherence on both software and hardware levels- at The Quantum Future symposium where highly enjoyable. This fascinating program ended with a panel debate on how quantum technology will change our society, at the beautiful building of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, in attendance of fellow jurists Nicholson Price II, Louise C. Druedahl, Marcelo Corrales Compagnucci, and Agnieszka Radziwon.

Surfing the Waves of the Second Quantum Revolution

The panel debate at the Academy -superbly moderated by Nanna Bonde Thylstrup- gave a true, almost symptomatic picture of the various stakeholders' viewpoints and positions. But we are learning to speak each other's language better and better, a crucial and exciting step when it comes to balancing the societal impact of our mystical family of quantum technologies. Surfing the waves of the second quantum revolution requires building bridges between disciplines, beyond traditional research silos. Bringing together the humanities, social and natural sciences to spur sustainable innovation driven by a golden triangle of academia, government and industry is essential.

Thank you to Professor Timo Minssen and his team at CeBiL for the kind invite. https://jura.ku.dk/cebil/

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Mauritz Kop joins Expert Panel on Quantum Technologies of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA)

Mauritz Kop joins the multidisciplinary Expert Panel on Quantum Technologies of the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) over 2022-2023, chaired by Professor Raymond Laflamme. In November 2023, The Expert Panel on the Responsible Adoption of Quantum Technologies published their final report titled Quantum Potential. https://cca-reports.ca/reports/quantum-technologies/

The Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) Investigates Future Impact of Quantum Technologies

As Chair, Dr. Raymond Laflamme will lead a multidisciplinary group with expertise in quantum technologies, economics, innovation, ethics, and legal and regulatory frameworks. The Panel will answer the following question:

In light of current trends affecting the evolution of quantum technologies, what opportunities and challenges do these present in Canada?

The Quantum Potential Report

Quantum technologies are poised to play a major role in Canada’s future, from its national security to its economic standing. While Canada is among the global leaders in quantum research, it nevertheless faces challenges in the adoption of these technologies as they approach market readiness. Quantum Potential, a new expert panel report from the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), outlines a responsible approach to quantum-technology adoption — a critical step toward ensuring Canada’s global competitiveness in the decades ahead.

Quantum Computing, Sensing, and Communications

Quantum Potential considers quantum computing, sensing, and communications, three categories of quantum technology at varying levels of maturity. While these technologies may strengthen digital infrastructure, improve data security, and optimize processes across a range of economic sectors, they also pose significant risks, such as misuse by malicious actors. Risks associated with quantum technologies span ethical, legal, social, and policy realms; without sufficient consideration, they may compromise public trust in quantum technologies, limit research funding, and stifle innovation.

The Commercialization Potential of Quantum Technologies in Canada

Quantum Potential explores the commercialization potential of quantum technologies, articulates Canada’s position within the global quantum value chain, and examines those conditions and policy levers that might promote their responsible adoption. https://cca-reports.ca/reports/quantum-technologies/

Quantum technologies offer opportunities to harness the properties of quantum mechanics for a breadth of applications, many of them novel. Though many quantum technologies are several years away from reaching market, it is believed that they have the potential to revolutionize many industries as they reach widespread commercial availability. Domestic industries will need to adopt these technologies if they wish to remain globally competitive, as will governments hoping to ensure national and economic security, public safety, and the integrity of critical infrastructure. To date, Canada has made noteworthy investments in the research and development of quantum technologies but has focused less on mechanisms to stimulate their diffusion and adoption.

Ethical, Legal, Social, and Policy Implications (Quantum-ELSPI)

The adoption of quantum technologies also carries significant ethical, legal, social, and policy implications. These include potential threats to data security and digital infrastructure, anticompetitive pressures by market-dominant firms, mass surveillance and privacy loss, regulatory uncertainty, inequitable access to technology, and social challenges related to employment and public trust in science. However, there are many strategies that could help address these challenges and stimulate the responsible adoption of quantum technologies. These include public-private co-operation, pro-competition oversight and policies, industry-led initiatives, and the creation of a diverse quantum workforce. In order to maximize the benefits of quantum technologies while mitigating potential risks, responsible approaches to adoption should use state-sanctioned and self-regulating measures – including quantum impact assessments, soft-law mechanisms, and consultations with stakeholders – to anticipate the effects of technological change.

Thanks to the sponsors National Research Council Canada and Innovation; Science and Economic Development Canada for facilitating this Report.

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Mauritz Kop Visiting Quantum & Law Scholar at Stanford Law School

Mauritz Kop is Visiting Quantum & Law Scholar at Stanford Law School in 2022-2023. Kop was invited by Prof. Mark Lemley, the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and the Director of the Stanford Program in Law, Science and Technology.

Advanced legal research on Regulating Quantum technology at Stanford Law School

This Stanford Law School ‘Regulating Quantum Technology’ research project will perform a detailed study of how to sensibly regulate the suite of quantum technologies including computing, sensing and networking, unifying the world of the large with that of the small. It intends to answer questions on how our innovation architecture should be constructed, so that benefits of quantum computing, sensing, simulation, and communication -including quantum-AI hybrids- will be distributed equitably, and risks proportionally addressed. Building upon foundational work done on quantum and AI innovation policy mechanisms, national security strategy, standardization & certification, ethics, responsible quantum R&D, governance principles, technology impact assessments, data ownership and intellectual property in quantum software and hardware structures - published in flagship Journals at Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Physics World, Max Planck, Springer Nature, and Oxford - the transdisciplinary research aims to develop an integrated, holistic vision on smart governance and regulation of quantum & AI infused digital transformation.

Happy to speak at a number of in person events in the nexus of AI, Quantum & Law in the coming weeks:

Scarcity, Regulation and the Abundance Society Roundtable at Stanford

1. April 22, Scarcity, Regulation and the Abundance Society Roundtable at Stanford, where I will present a chapter titled ‘Abundance & Equality’ for the book project co-edited by Mark Lemley and Deven Desai. The chapter connects good governance to the end of scarcity and unifies equality with technology driven abundance, by introducing a novel Post-Rawlsian Equal Relative Abundance (ERA) principle of distributive justice. As befits tradition, we will insert musical interludes for piano, with me performing ‘Stanford Theme & Variations’ à l'improviste in the Stanford Law School Faculty Lounge. https://law.stanford.edu/publications/scarcity-regulation-and-the-abundance-society/

Patenting Quantum Computing Technologies talk at Quantum & Law Conference in Lund

2. April 29, presenting our 'Patenting Quantum Computing Technologies and Market Power: A Quantitative Analysis' research together with my academic friends Profs Mateo Aboy (Cambridge) and Timo Minssen (Copenhagen) at the Quantum & Law Conference in Lund. We wrote 2 papers focusing on IP portfolio strategies, trade & state secrets, and their interface with antitrust regulations, utilizing industry and quantum domain specific mixed theoretical & empirical research methods. http://quantum-law.org/conference/

EU AI Act Presentation at AI World Summit Americas in Montreal

3. May 4, I’ll present an overview of the EU AI Act with its ‘product safety framework’ and market entrance requirements, constructed around a set of 4 risk categories at the AI World Summit Americas in Montreal. We will discuss whether it provides a regulatory framework for AI that should be adopted globally during a Headline panel with Prof. Gillian Hadfield (Toronto) and Dr José-Marie Griffiths (President Dakota State), moderated by Meredith Broadbent (Washington). https://americas.worldsummit.ai/speakers/

Keynote Quantum Computing Ethics at IBM Research

4. May 17, I’ll give a keynote on Quantum Computing Ethics at IBM Research during their Tech for Racial and Social Justice Seminar (internal event), organized by Dr Aminat Adebiyi, moderated by Dr Mira Wolf-Bauwens, with whom I worked together on the WEF Quantum Computing Principles. https://www.weforum.org/publications/quantum-computing-governance-principles/

Quantum Impact Assessment (QIA)

5. We are creating a world’s first application-driven Quantum Impact Assessment (QIA) in The Netherlands -raising ELSA awareness and removing barriers for adoption of QT- with a diverse, multidisciplinary team lead by Prof. Bart Schermer (Leiden) and Daniël Frijters for the Centre for Quantum & Society, made possible by ECP and Quantum Delta NL. https://quantumdelta.nl/centre-for-quantum-and-society

Quantum-ELSPI special for Springer Nature with Luciano Floridi

6. Meanwhile I am editing the Quantum-ELSPI special for Springer Nature on the Ethical, Legal, Social and Policy Implications of Quantum Technology, together with EiC Prof. Luciano Floridi (Oxford). https://law.stanford.edu/publications/quantum-elspi-ethical-legal-social-and-policy-implications-of-quantum-technology/

More exciting projects soon ...

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Ethics in the Quantum Age

Honored to write about Ethics in the Quantum Age in the Physics World Special on Quantum 2.0, and to be given the chance to outline an ethical framework for quantum technologies, which includes a definition of quantum-ethics.

Mauritz Kop, Why we need to consider the ethical implications of quantum technologies, Physics World, IOP Publishing, (December 1, 2021)

Physics World Special on Quantum 2.0

Physics World is the magazine of the UK-based Institute of Physics (IOP), one of the largest physical societies in the world.

Link to the article: https://physicsworld.com/a/why-we-need-to-consider-the-ethical-implications-of-quantum-technologies/

Download the Ethics in the Quantum Age article here.

We need to build bridges of mutual understanding between disciplines – a move that will involve learning to speak each other’s language, which is easier said than done. Therefore, it is a promising sign that the quantum community reaches out to lawyers, philosophers, and ethicists to explain them the importance of ethics and the societal impact of quantum technologies in their own technical journal.

Making Quantum Technologies Ethical

Please find a short introduction below:

Over the past decades, research into quantum technologies has come to the stage where the science is rapidly being translated into real-world applications be it quantum computers, materials and communications systems. These advancements are witnessed by the considerable number of quantum start-ups that have emerged in recent years. Yet before these innovations can be diffused, we must ensure that ethical, legal and social implications are sufficiently addressed. Against this backdrop, attention is now turning to interdisciplinary efforts to identify the dilemma’s ingrained in making quantum technologies ethical.

A Multi-layered Ethical Framework for Quantum Technologies

The article proposes a multi-layered ethical framework for quantum technologies, including a definition of quantum ethics. At one level, we employ the old, familiar “normative” ethics that apply to all transformative technologies and to information. In addition, the counterintuitive phenomena that underpin quantum physics – such as superposition, entanglement and tunnelling – require a tailored, applied ethics approach. In other words, due to the unique characteristics of quantum technologies – such as the unprecedented capabilities of quantum sensors, the features of quantum networks, and the probabilistic nature of quantum computing – we also develop a new subtype of context-specific practical ethics. In this way we constitute our theory in well-established ethical traditions while at the same time providing tailor-made solutions.

Definition of Quantum Ethics

One possible definition of quantum ethics could be: “Quantum ethics calls for humans to act virtuously, abiding by the standards of ethical practice and conduct set by the quantum community, and to make sure these actions have desirable consequences, with the latter being higher in rank in case it conflicts with the former.

More quantum research at Stanford Law School here.

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Mauritz Kop speaks at Center for Quantum Networks Conference

Mauritz Kop will be speaking about Legal & Ethical Guidelines for Quantum Technology on Saturday Nov. 20 at 9:15-10:15 a.m. Phoenix, Arizona time (GMT-7) as part of the Quantum Technologies, Law, and Public Policy: A Global Perspective Conference. This two-day online event is hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored Center for Quantum Networks at the University of Arizona, and the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. Speakers include a cross-disciplinary line-up of quantum & law scholars from UC Berkeley School of Law, University of Toronto Faculty of Law, the University of Arizona, Sabanci University, Loyola Law School, Lund University, and Stanford Law School.

Quantum Technologies, Law, and Public Policy: A Global Perspective

You can find the conference’s agenda and registration here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mauritzkop_quantum-technologies-law-and-public-policy-activity-6863066359228583936-peu9/

Besides explaining quantum physics and discussing regulation, the focus of our Quantum Technologies, Law, and Public Policy: A Global Perspective Conference lies also on developing countries and their challenge with the future of quantum technologies. This is arguably the first comprehensive conference on quantum technology and the law in the U.S..

The Quantum Internet

The Center for Quantum Networks (CQN) is taking on one of the great engineering challenges of the 21st century: to lay the technical and social foundations of the quantum internet. The Quantum Internet will surpass the capabilities of today’s internet because of the unique advantages of entanglement—a coordination of the quantum states of particles serving as computational bits that is not present in the realms of classical physics. https://cqn-erc.arizona.edu/

Legal & Ethical Guidelines for Quantum Technology

The main takeaways of my Legal & Ethical Guidelines for Quantum Technology presentation are:

1. The quantum community should establish a practical code of quantum ethics to make the application of quantum technologies equitable and safe.

2. The world needs a risk-based legal-ethical framework for quantum technologies that mitigates risks and maximizes opportunities, the burdens and gains of which should be equally distributed across members of society.

3. Since technology is never neutral, we should embed democratic values and human rights principles into the architecture and infrastructure of our quantum systems, of course without rendering them useless.

4. We should develop quantum technology impact assessments in the form of codes of conduct, best practices and moral guides that are implemented by inclusive, diverse multidisciplinary teams, and utilize these tools to raise quantum awareness and trust, promote ethical quantum by design, and even proactively ensure regulatory compliance and legal conformity, which includes standardization and certification.

After registering for the conference you will receive the Zoom link that gives access to the event.

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Quantum Computing and Intellectual Property Law

Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3, 2021

New Stanford University Beyond IP Innovation Law research article: “Quantum Computing and Intellectual Property Law”.

By Mauritz Kop

Citation: Kop, Mauritz, Quantum Computing and Intellectual Property Law (April 8, 2021). Berkeley Technology Law Journal 2021, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp 101-115, February 8, 2022, https://btlj.org/2022/02/quantum-computing-and-intellectual-property-law/

Download the article here: Kop_QC and IP Law BTLJ

Please find a short abstract below:

Intellectual property (IP) rights & the Quantum Computer

What types of intellectual property (IP) rights can be vested in the components of a scalable quantum computer? Are there sufficient market-set innovation incentives for the development and dissemination of quantum software and hardware structures? Or is there a need for open source ecosystems, enrichment of the public domain and even democratization of quantum technology? The article explores possible answers to these tantalizing questions.

IP overprotection leads to exclusive exploitation rights for first movers

The article demonstrates that strategically using a mixture of IP rights to maximize the value of the IP portfolio of the quantum computer’s owner, potentially leads to IP protection in perpetuity. Overlapping IP protection regimes can result in unlimited duration of global exclusive exploitation rights for first movers, being a handful of universities and large corporations. The ensuing IP overprotection in the field of quantum computing leads to an unwanted concentration of market power. Overprotection of information causes market barriers and hinders both healthy competition and industry-specific innovation. In this particular case it slows down progress in an important application area of quantum technology, namely quantum computing.

Fair competition and antitrust laws for quantum technology

In general, our current IP framework is not written with quantum technology in mind. IP should be an exception -limited in time and scope- to the rule that information goods can be used for the common good without restraint. IP law cannot incentivize creation, prevent market failure, fix winner-takes-all effects, eliminate free riding and prohibit predatory market behavior at the same time. To encourage fair competition and correct market skewness, antitrust law is the instrument of choice.

Towards an innovation architecture that mixes freedom and control

The article proposes a solution tailored to the exponential pace of innovation in The Quantum Age, by introducing shorter IP protection durations of 3 to 10 years for Quantum and AI infused creations and inventions. These shorter terms could be made applicable to both the software and the hardware side of things. Clarity about the recommended limited durations of exclusive rights -in combination with compulsory licenses or fixed prized statutory licenses- encourages legal certainty, knowledge dissemination and follow on innovation within the quantum domain. In this light, policy makers should build an innovation architecture that mixes freedom (e.g. access, public domain) and control (e.g. incentive & reward mechanisms).

Creating a thriving global quantum ecosystem

The article concludes that anticipating spectacular advancements in quantum technology, the time is now ripe for governments, research institutions and the markets to prepare regulatory and IP strategies that strike the right balance between safeguarding our fundamental rights & freedoms, our democratic norms & standards, and pursued policy goals that include rapid technology transfer, the free flow of information and the creation of a thriving global quantum ecosystem, whilst encouraging healthy competition and incentivizing sustainable innovation.

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