La búsqueda de información jurídica: de los tesauros a la inteligencia artificial

The evolution of search technologies in electronic legal information, along its 25 years of existence, is reviewed. Special attention is given to those developed by the R & D team of Wolters Kluwer Spain, which are based on natural language search with semantic expansion and advanced algorithms for the presentation of results by relevance, and have been at the forefront of the technology in this field worldwide. Recent studies on user behavior show the need for further progress in these developments to solve the complex problems detected, involving the improvement of the search engines with new and enhanced artificial intelligence techniques.Se repasa la evolución de las tecnologías de búsqueda de información legal en soporte electrónico, a lo largo de sus 25 años de existencia. Se presta especial atención a las desarrolladas por el Departamento de I+D de Wolters Kluwer España que, basadas en la búsqueda en lenguaje natural, con expansión semántica y avanzados algoritmos de presentación de resultados por relevancia, se han situado a la cabeza de la tecnología mundial en este ámbito. Los últimos estudios sobre el comportamiento de los usuarios evidencian la necesidad de continuar avanzando en estos desarrollos para dar solución a los complejos problemas detectados, incorporando a los motores de búsqueda nuevas y mejores técnicas de inteligencia artificial

Mobile technology and consumer empowerment : an application for online consumer mediation in Catalonia (Geoconsum)

Today, courts proceedings remain complex and expensive for consumers. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) are means of consumer redress. Nevertheless, they have not achieved its full potential, partly due to the lack of consumer awareness. Currently, there are different legislative initiatives at the EU level devoted to improving consumer empowerment as well as, more particularly, ADR and ODR. Moreover, Information technology (IT) devices such as smartphones are improving consumers' access to information and they may contribute to empowering consumers and giving them better access to justice. Further to this contextual framework, this article presents Geoconsum, an open source mobile application that contains a database on consumer mediation entities and a compendium of consumer legislation applicable in Catalonia. In the near future, this application may be integrated with an online mediation platform. This article shows the databases' methodology and implementing process. Furthermore, it shows the mobile application functionalities and the search and retrieval capabilities, based on parameterised searches as well as on geolocation technology. The device also works as a mapping service application since it offers a route planner to access the nearest consumer mediation entity

Ontology-driven Generation of Training Paths in the Legal Domain

This paper presents a methodology for helping citizens obtain guidance and training when submitting a natural language description of a legal case they are interested in. This is done via an automatic mechanism, which firstly extracts relevant legal concepts from the given textual description, by relying upon an underlying legal ontology built for such a purpose and an enrichment process based on common-sense knowledge. Then, it proceeds to generate a training path meant to provide citizens with a better understanding of the legal issues arising from the given case, with corresponding links to relevant laws and jurisprudence retrieved from an external legal repository. This work de-scribes the creation of the underlying legal ontology from existing sources and the ontology integration algorithm used for its production; besides, it details the generation of the training paths and reports the results of the preliminary experimentation that has been carried out so far. This methodology has been implemented in an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) system that is part of an Italian initiative for assisted legal mediation

Linked Open Data - Creating Knowledge Out of Interlinked Data: Results of the LOD2 Project

Database Management; Artificial Intelligence (incl. Robotics); Information Systems and Communication Servic

Semantic Systems. The Power of AI and Knowledge Graphs

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Semantic Systems, SEMANTiCS 2019, held in Karlsruhe, Germany, in September 2019. The 20 full papers and 8 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 88 submissions. They cover topics such as: web semantics and linked (open) data; machine learning and deep learning techniques; semantic information management and knowledge integration; terminology, thesaurus and ontology management; data mining and knowledge discovery; semantics in blockchain and distributed ledger technologies

Artificial intelligence as a tool for research and development in European patent law

Artificial intelligence (“AI”) is increasingly fundamental for research and development (“R&D”). Thanks to its powerful analytical and generative capabilities, AI is arguably changing how we invent. According to several scholars, this finding calls into question the core principles of European patent law—the field of law devoted to protecting inventions. In particular, the AI revolution might have an impact on the notions of “invention”, “inventor”, “inventive step”, and “skilled person”. The present dissertation examines how AI might affect each of those fundamental concepts. It concludes that European patent law is a flexible legal system capable of adapting to technological change, including the advent of AI. First, this work finds that “invention” is a purely objective notion. Inventions consist of technical subject-matter. Whether artificial intelligence had a role in developing the invention is therefore irrelevant as such. Nevertheless, de lege lata, the inventor is necessarily a natural person. There is no room for attributing inventorship to an AI system. In turn, the notion of “inventor” comprises whoever makes an intellectual contribution to the inventive concept. And patent law has always embraced “serendipitous” inventions—those that one stumbles upon by accident. Therefore, at a minimum, the natural person who recognizes an invention developed through AI would qualify as its inventor. Instead, lacking a human inventor, the right to the patent would not arise at all. Besides, the consensus among scholars is that, de facto, AI cannot invent “autonomously” at the current state of technology. The likelihood of an “invention without an inventor” is thus remote. AI is rather a tool for R&D, albeit a potentially sophisticated one. Coming to the “skilled person”, they are the average expert in the field that can rely on the standard tools for routine research and experimentation. Hence, this work finds that if and when AI becomes a “standard” research tool, it should be framed as part of the skilled person. Since AI is an umbrella term for a myriad of different technologies, the assessment of what is truly “standard” for the skilled person – and what would be considered inventive against that figure – demands a precise case-by-case analysis, which takes into account the different AI techniques that exist, the degree of human involvement and skill for using them, and the crucial relevance of data for many AI tools. However, while AI might cause increased complexities and require adaptations – especially to the inventive step assessment – the fundamental principles of European patent law stand the test of time

Patent use exception for user-generated inventions

The high-tech corner of the user-innovation scene is dominated by makers. The expansion of the maker movement embraced fields such as robotics, electronics, and 3D printing, where makers are not only hobbyists, but true contributors to technological progress. By contesting the classical paradigm of innovation incentivized by IP protection, they question the established principles of patent law. In consequence, we observe friction between two discrepant approaches and philosophies: open communal workings (making) and closed proprietary operations (patents). In addition to that, changes in IP practice and the dynamic of making provokes concerns about the free use of the patented ideas. The fact of public sharing, even in a form of one “innocent” Internet post, e.g. suggesting (instructing) certain patent improvements, can be sufficient to claim indirect patent infringement or inducement to infringe. The research addressed the question of the applicability of patent excpetions (limitations of the patent exclusivity) that enable defence in patent infringement cases. It also examined those measures with regard to the scope of the freedom-to-operate they provide. In the course of the project it was demonstrated that the communitarian profile of the movement and the uncontrollable dissemination of information do not allow for the movement to fit under the protective umbrella of patent limitations. The study proposes a novel solution within the framework of patent limitations to address free tinkering and the public dissemination of information. Its objective is plain and simple: to free makers from infringing patent rights, from being involved in patent puzzles and from decoding patent claims