Nicholas Zepnick Discusses the Value in Data Ownership When Considering AI Partnership

Foley & Lardner LLP partner Nicholas Zepnick is quoted in the Technology Transfer Tactics newsletter, discussing how to manage co-developed innovations and address licensing and commercialization issues as they relate to data use in artificial intelligence systems.

Zepnick said the first issue to consider is ownership, offering the hypothetical of a university that has data of interest to an AI developer for use in its model. “The institution says, alright, we’re going to get paid X dollars for the use of our data,” Zepnick explained. “They let the other party use it, and then they just take their check and go home. But often, that fails to value the data.”

“The owners of the data are failing to see the big picture of the data’s value and what it can do for these companies,” Zepnick added. “They underestimate how critical the data is for these companies to ultimately arrive at a viable product that produces meaningful information.”

Zepnick also emphasized the importance of classifying data to add value for licensing purposes, treating data like any other intellectual property, and properly structuring the agreement with an AI partner to protect future data use.