On December 1, the Washington State AI Task Force (“Task Force”) released its Interim Report with AI policy recommendations to the Governor and legislature. Established by the legislature in 2024, the Task Force is responsible for evaluating current and potential uses of AI in Washington and recommending regulatory and legislative actions to “ensure responsible AI
International
AI Heists Santa’s Secrets: Elfred’s High-Tech Plot to Hijack Christmas

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—unless you’re Santa and your trade secrets just got swiped by a disgruntled elf with no holiday cheer, wielding powerful magical artificial intelligence (AI) tools like “ElfGPT.” As snow falls over the North Pole and elves frantically race to meet their Christmas Eve deadline, a new kind of…
Trade Secrets and How to Protect Your Most Valuable Information
Trade Secrets and How Your Business Can Protect Its Most Valuable Information
In today’s AI driven economy, trade secrets often represent a company’s core competitive advantage. Yet many businesses spend far more time and money protecting trademarks and patents than safeguarding the confidential information that actually drives revenue.
Two recent federal disputes show how quickly…
Covington Tech Briefing Spotlight: Impact of Latest Policy Developments on the Tech Industry
On September 24, 2025, Covington’s tech industry experts explored what legal teams, government affairs professionals, and business leaders at tech companies need to know during this pivotal period and offered insights into anticipated challenges and emerging opportunities in the year ahead. Eight Covington attorneys shared their insights during a 60-minute session moderated by Covington partner…
Less Tickbox, More Toolbox: 4 Key Takeaways From Latest SFO Guidance on Corporate Compliance Programmes
Internal controls must be tailored, proportionate, and risk-based — not just a “paper exercise”.
By Erin Brown Jones, Clare Nida, and Matthew Unsworth
Last week, the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) published its updated “Guidance on Evaluating a Corporate Compliance Programme” (the Guidance). The agency’s previous guidance was published in 2020 as an…
The Latest Judicial Guidance on AI: White text, bias, fakes, hallucinations, and the use of AI by litigants in person and lawyers
Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Guidance for Judicial Office Holders (31 October 2025)
In the introduction, this Guidance note announces that “It updates and replaces the guidance document issued in April 2025”, which shows the speed at which AI is developing. It “sets out key risks and issues associated with using AI and some suggestions for…
Product Liability Directive 2024/2853 provides Protection against Digital-Era Defects. Member States still have One Year to Implement the Directive into National Laws (9 December 2026)

The new Product Liability Directive adopted last year on 23 October 2024 came into force on 8 December 2024 providing Member States with two years to implement the provisions. Its goal: to address and tackle the new product liability challenges of the digital age.
Amongst a host of new provisions, the new product liability rules…
New Inventorship Guidance on AI-Assisted Inventions: AI Can’t Be an Inventor, But AI Can Be a Tool in the Inventive Process (For Now…)

As readers may recall, in February 2024, the USPTO issued guidance on inventorship in AI-assisted inventions, which we wrote about here. On November 26, 2025, the USPTO rescinded that guidance and replaced it with new guidance.
By way of background, the February 2024 Guidance analyzed the naming of inventors for AI-assisted inventions using…
Implementation of New UK Subscription Contract Regime Delayed

The authors wish to thank Sirrul Choudhury for his contributions to this post.
On 20 November 2025 the UK government confirmed that the secondary legislation which is required to clarify and bring into force the new consumer subscription contract regime under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) [A New Era for…
Getty Images (US) Inc (and others) v Stability AI Limited. Input: Getty Images v Stability AI. Output: Continued Uncertainty.

On 4 November 2025 the UK High Court handed down its judgment in the case of Getty Images (US) Inc (and others) v Stability AI Limited [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch) [High Court Judgment Template].
The case concerned the training, development and deployment of Stability AI’s “Stable Diffusion” generative AI model and, as one…
