General Counsel & Legal Teams
Governance frameworks, policy, supplier negotiation and a clear view of regulatory exposure that can be reported to the board.
Governance · Contracts · IP · Data · Disputes
Specialist Artificial Intelligence Lawyer Service
Legal strategy for building, buying and deploying AI.
Specialist advice for general counsel, CTOs, founders and investors on AI governance, procurement, intellectual property and data, where AI meets media, content and technology. We work across the EU AI Act, the UK's principles-based approach and US federal and state rules, with a focus on reducing risk rather than following hype.
Advice for the People Accountable for AI
Our niche is the intersection of AI with intellectual property, digital media and technology contracts. That is where most AI risk sits: in the data going in, the output coming out and the contracts in between.
CTOs & Product Leaders
Practical guidance on training data, model and tool selection, logging, human oversight and the documentation regulators and customers will ask for.
Founders & Investors
Ownership of models, data and output, investor due diligence on AI-driven businesses, and the warranties that funding documents will require.
Multi-Jurisdictional Alignment
- EU AI Act: risk classification, provider and deployer obligations and the revised Digital Omnibus timetable
- UK: the principles-based, regulator-led approach, UK GDPR and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025
- US: federal guidance alongside state AI, privacy and consumer-protection laws
How We Deliver Cross-Border AI Advice
We advise under English law from London and build one governance and contract framework that anticipates overlapping regimes. Where a question turns on another country's law, we identify it early and scope the local-law input required.
Artificial Intelligence Legal Services
Each pillar is organised around a decision your business has to make, from adopting a tool to defending a claim.
Governance, Ethics & Compliance
- AI acceptable-use and governance policies
- AI impact assessments and data protection impact assessments (DPIAs)
- Algorithmic bias and fairness reviews, with technical input where needed
- EU AI Act classification, role mapping and compliance planning
- Alignment with UK regulator guidance, including the ICO
Commercial Transactions & Procurement
- Vendor selection and contractual due diligence for AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) and infrastructure
- Master services agreements (MSAs) and AI supplier terms
- Liability allocation, warranties and IP indemnities
- Data processing agreements under Article 28 UK GDPR / EU GDPR
- Customer-facing terms for AI products and features
Intellectual Property & Data Protection
- Copyright licensing for model training data
- Ownership of AI-generated and AI-assisted output
- Trade secret protection for models, prompts and weights
- Data scraping, database rights and website terms
- Mitigating infringement and hallucination risk in outputs
Corporate, M&A & Investment
- IP and data due diligence on AI-driven targets
- Chain of title for models, code and training data
- AI-specific warranties and disclosure in investment and acquisition documents
- Compute, cloud and data centre supply agreements
Disputes, Litigation & Enforcement
- Copyright and trade mark claims involving AI training or output
- AI replication of content formats, voices and likenesses
- Breach of AI supplier and licence agreements
- Platform takedowns and cross-border enforcement
- Responding to regulator enquiries
How AI Affects Our Core Sectors
Media, Film & Content Generation
Generative AI in production pipelines, digital replicas of performers, AI-assisted scripts and visual effects, and the warranties broadcasters, distributors and insurers now ask for.
Creators, Brands & Platforms
AI copying of channel formats and content, synthetic influencers, transparency labelling and platform enforcement where standard reporting tools fall short.
Software, SaaS & Financial Services
AI features in SaaS products, customer and supplier terms, automated decision-making, and algorithms in financial services that affect customers.
AI Case Law Watch
The courts are setting the boundaries of AI and copyright in real time. These are the cases we are tracking for clients.
Getty Images v Stability AI [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch)
The High Court found that the Stable Diffusion model weights were not an "infringing copy" of Getty's images, dismissing the secondary copyright claim, with only limited trade mark findings on watermarks. Training that took place outside the UK was not decided.
The New York Times v Microsoft & OpenAI
Consolidated with Daily News and CIR claims, this litigation tests whether using news articles to train large language models is fair use, and how far outputs can be derivative of the original texts.
Advance Local Media v Cohere
Publishers allege direct and secondary copyright infringement, trade mark infringement and false designation of origin, including where AI outputs are attributed to their titles.
What this means for clients: in the UK, the safest position is still a clear licence for training data and clear contractual allocation of output risk. Commentary is general and not legal advice on any specific matter.
Representative AI Matters
Generative-AI Risk in an International VFX Production Chain
Reviewed AI warranties, indemnities and liability allocation across overseas vendors and main production contracts, clarifying exposure and negotiation priorities.
AI Replication of a Creator's Scripted Video Format
Acted for a creator whose scripted format and visual presentation had been replicated by a competing channel using AI-generated presenters, where standard platform tools and the original contracts did not address AI replication.
Anonymised and high-level. Past work does not guarantee a particular outcome in any future matter.
Our Own Use of AI Under SRA Regulation
As a firm authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, we apply the same discipline to our own use of technology that we recommend to clients.
Confidentiality First
Client-confidential material is protected in line with our professional duties and is not entered into tools whose terms allow it to be retained or used for training.
Solicitor Review
Any technology-assisted work is checked and approved by a solicitor. Responsibility for the advice remains ours.
Transparency
We are open with clients about how technology is used on their matter, and follow their instructions where they ask us not to use it.
Led by an Internet Lawyer Since 1999
Peter Adediran, Founder & Principal Solicitor
Peter has advised at the intersection of internet, intellectual property and commercial law for over 25 years, and is the author of A Practical Guide to Business, Law & the Internet (Kogan Page, 2002). He delivers professional training on software IP, AI-assisted coding and technology contracts in partnership with MBL Seminars, the international training and CPD organisation that has trained more than 286,000 professionals across 73 countries.
Further Reading
Artificial Intelligence Legal Questions
How does the EU AI Act apply to a UK or US-based software company?
The EU AI Act can apply to providers and deployers outside the EU where an AI system is placed on the EU market or its output is used in the EU. Prohibited practices and general-purpose AI model obligations already apply. Following the Digital Omnibus on AI, the high-risk rules apply from 2 December 2027 for stand-alone high-risk systems and from 2 August 2028 for AI embedded in regulated products. The first step is to classify each system and identify your role.
Who owns content created with generative AI under UK law?
It depends on the human contribution and the contracts. Where a human makes the creative choices, ordinary copyright rules apply. The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 also has a specific rule for computer-generated works with no human author, giving authorship to the person who made the arrangements necessary for the work. AI supplier terms often deal with ownership and licences of output, so they need to be checked alongside the statute.
Can we train an AI model on content collected from the internet?
In the UK, the text and data mining exception in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 covers non-commercial research only, so commercial training generally needs a licence or another lawful basis. Website terms, database rights and data protection law may also apply. The position differs in the EU and the US, so cross-border training projects need a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction view.
What did the English court decide in Getty Images v Stability AI?
In Getty Images v Stability AI [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch), the High Court dismissed the secondary copyright infringement claim, finding that the Stable Diffusion model weights were not an infringing copy of Getty's images. Getty succeeded only on limited, historic trade mark points about watermarks. The primary training claims were not decided because they were withdrawn, so the question of training outside the UK remains open.
What should an AI vendor or AIaaS contract cover?
Key points include the permitted use of your inputs and data, whether the supplier may train on them, confidentiality, ownership and licensing of outputs, IP infringement indemnities, accuracy and hallucination risk, security, service levels, a data processing agreement under Article 28 UK GDPR where personal data is processed, audit rights and exit.
Does UK GDPR apply to AI systems?
Yes, wherever personal data is used to train, test or run a system. You need a lawful basis, transparency, data minimisation and, for higher-risk processing, a data protection impact assessment. Solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects carry additional safeguards.
Does my business need an AI use policy?
If staff use AI tools, a short policy is usually the most effective first control. It should set out approved tools, what information must never be entered, human review of outputs, disclosure to clients where required, and who is accountable.
Book an AI Risk-Assessment Consultation
Tell us what you are building, buying or deploying, and where it will be used. We will confirm the right next step.
Helpful to Include
- The AI system or tool and what it does
- Whether you build, buy, fine-tune or deploy it
- The data it uses and where users are based
- Any contract, dispute, launch or funding deadline
How We Work
Matters usually begin with a fixed-fee initial review of the agreed documents and questions, followed by a consultation with our principal solicitor. Scope and fees for any further work are agreed in advance.
Make an appointment
Contact us today to learn how we can help safeguard your success.