AUWCL Student Wins CIPSC 2018 Legal Writing Competition
November 16, 2018
American University Washington College of Law student Michael McLaughlin won the Corporate IP Strategy Conference (CIPSC) 2018 Legal Writing Competition for an article he wrote regarding patent protection as it relates to computer-assisted and computer-generated inventions.
McLaughlin, a 3L and senior managing editor for American University Intellectual Property Brief, traveled to Santa Clara University School of Law Nov. 13 to receive the award, which was sponsored by Unified Patents and the Santa Clara High Tech Law Journal.
“Machine learning technologies are currently being used by inventors to optimize design configurations beyond the scope of human capacity,” said McLaughlin, who wrote the article for a class and through independent study with Professor Sean Flynn. “One question that arises is what type of patent protection is to be afforded to computer-assisted and computer-generated inventions with minimal to no human intervention. (My) article examines how such technological advances could wreak havoc on the patent legal system as it currently stands and offers a proposal for a legal standard for determining the amount of human intervention required to qualify for patent protection.”
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