The EU AI Act: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead
KI Park e.V. @ TechQuartier Frankfurt, 1. Februar 2024
ReCap-Video: © KI Park e.V., Karina Sufianova
Benedikt advises investors and start-ups from the venture capital ecosystem on IP/IT law with a particular focus on innovative technologies in the context of financing rounds, on the viability of business models and with ongoing legal advice on the operative business.
A particular focus of his practice is the drafting of software licensing, cooperation and R&D agreements, especially with respect to artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning technologies. Materially this covers issues surrounding intellectual property and information technology law concerning the development, training, protecting and distribution of AI software services (AI-as-a-Service), including regulatory questions on compliance and data privacy. Last, Benedikt advises all sorts of SaaS platforms in general, including licensing and terms of use in B2B and B2C context.
Another focus of his activities is advising providers from the crypto- and web3-space, such as wallet and blockchain providers, routing aggregators, web3-gaming platforms or digital agencies, artists and publishers on the development and implementation of NFT projects.
He also has special experience in negotiating IP licenses for spin-outs in the university sector.
Education and Career
Benedikt studied law in Konstanz, Warwick (UK) and Bonn and as part of his dissertation as a visiting scholar at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. He completed his legal traineeship in Hamburg, inter alia, in the IP department of an international commercial law firm, a specialised IP boutique and the Competition and Copyright Chamber of the Hamburg Regional Court.
Before joining YPOG, Benedikt was a senior associate at Taylor Wessing in Hamburg and Berlin.
Experience
In the area of software law, the following clients should be mentioned in particular:
- Support for the first commercial provider of 3D avatars based on NeRF-technology (Neural Radiance Fields for the transformation of 2D images) during the market launch in the B2B and B2C sector, including advice on data protection law
- Ongoing advice of an AI-driven software platform for digital ride hailing providers, in particular in the area of software licensing law and data sharing agreements
- Support of an AI software provider for the wind flow simulations for the automotive industry in negotiating an R&D contract with an OEM manufacturer
- Ongoing advice of a B2B waste management platform in the context of software outsourcing and R&D agreements
- Counseling a provider of personalized experimentation and testing tools for dynamic websites
- Advising a provider of an AI-generated automated price setting software for online shops on the integration of its prototype into a client's ERP system.
Mandates from the NFT, crypto and web3 sectors:
- Drafting the terms of use for a wide range of leading crypto wallet providers in the B2B and B2C sectors
- Advising the leading aggregator of bridging services on the development of B2B service contracts
- Drafting Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Data-Sharing agreements between wallet and blockchain providers
- Advising on IP license agreements and service contracts for providers of collectibles and social games
- Advising digital agencies on the creation and issuing of branded NFT collections
- Creation of B2C terms of use of web3-gaming providers
- Advising rights holders, including in sports marketing, on the creation of their own NFT collections
Speeches
- Al Act: Is the EU Regulating Artificial Intelligence to Death? (with Benedikt Flöter, Partner at YPOG)
Podcast: Digital Optimists | Business Ideas, Tech Talk, Interviews,March 2, 2025Link to Spotify
- The AI Act: Challenges and Opportunities
Project A Knowledge Conference, 20 September 2024
Link to the video | Download PDF - AI: The End of Intellectual Property
Project A, PAKCon 2023
Link to the video - Copyright and trade secret protection in AI applications,
Bitkom e.V., AK Künstliche Intelligenz und AK Geistiges Eigentum, 19 October 2023 - Copyright and trade secret protection in AI applications,
Bitkom e.V., AK Geistiges Eigentum, 13 June 2023 - Artificial Intelligence - Legal Protection and Licensing in the Cognitive Age,
GRUR District Group Berlin, 5 June 2023
Download PDF - AI call to ACTion, YPOG webinar
Link to the webinar - NFTs in Sports-Marketing and Web3Gaming – Questions on Licensing and Consumer Law,
Bitkom e.V., AK Blockchain, 23 March 2023 - Commercializing AI, YPOG webinar
Link to the webinar - Implementing Due Diligence Findings, IP/IT in Transactions,
Deutscher Fachverlag GmbH, 28 March 2023 - Transfer of Personal Data in M&A Transactions, Data Protection in Transactions,
Deutscher Fachverlag GmbH, 14 June 2023 - Digital Rembrands in the Attic, NFTs and IP-Rights,
Project A, PAKCon 2022
Link to the speech
* not a partner within the meaning of the German Partnership Company Act (Partnerschaftsgesellschaftsgesetz – PartGG)
Qualifications
- Attorney at Law
- Dr. iur. (University of Bonn)
Languages
- German
- English
Recommendations
- Copyright law and AI training: Ruling of the Hamburg Regional Court on the scope of copyright limitations in first German "AI Case"
in: Berliner Anwaltsblatt, January, 7 2025 (together with Charlotte Petrasch) - Generative AI in the company - Legal issues regarding the use of generative artificial intelligence in the company
in: Bitkom 2024 [in German, to the guide] - Alming for Trust: The European AI Act,
in: Körber Digital, 2023 - Copyright in the cognitive age - Protectability of AI systems and their performance outcomes,
in: Berliner Anwaltsblatt, 9. Edition 2023 [in German] - Dynamic and personalized prices: Which rules apply under unfair competition law?
in: GRUR-Prax 2017, 546 [in German] - The protection of investments from market failure under unfair competition law. A comparative legal and economic analysis under US and German Law', Tübingen 2018 [in German]
- Infringement of the photographic right to real estate property and transferability of damage calculation to tort claims,
in: Journal for Copyright and Media Law (ZUM) 2012, pp. 383-389 [in German] - Rules of unfair competition law for e-commerce,
in: Lehmann/Meents (eds.), Handbook for lawyers in information technology law, 2nd edition 2011 [in German]
Direct message to Dr. Benedikt Flöter