Navigating AI's Legal Challenges: IP, Competition and Corporate Law
When the law meets the machine: where AI is straining intellectual property, competition and corporate law
Artificial intelligence is no longer a frontier topic for a handful of specialists. It now sits inside corporate decision-making, consumer markets, research and cultural production — and with it comes a wave of legal questions that existing frameworks were never designed to answer. For law libraries, law firms and corporate counsel building a serious collection on this subject, Navigating the (Legal) Challenges of the Artificial Intelligence Era, edited by Emanuela Arezzo for Kluwer Law International (April 2026), arrives at exactly the right moment. Part of the Information Law Series, this collective volume brings together a distinguished group of European scholars across three connected domains: intellectual property, competition law and corporate law.
What makes the book valuable is not that it predicts the future, but that it maps — chapter by chapter — where the current law holds, where it strains, and where reform is genuinely needed. And the events of the last eighteen months show just how live those questions have become.
Regulation is arriving in phases — and the clock is already running
The most significant regulatory development is the European Union's AI Act, the world's first comprehensive horizontal AI law. According to the European Commission, the Act applies progressively: prohibitions on certain practices took effect in February 2025, obligations for providers of general-purpose AI models began applying in August 2025, and the bulk of the high-risk rules follow in August 2026. For corporate counsel, this phased timeline is not abstract — it reshapes documentation, governance and liability duties for any organisation deploying AI inside the European market. The book's analysis of corporate governance, internal controls and the board's role in AI oversight speaks directly to this new compliance landscape.
Intellectual property: the courts are now drawing the lines
While legislators move in phases, the courts are deciding concrete disputes now. On 4 November 2025 the UK High Court handed down its judgment in Getty Images (US) Inc & ors v Stability AI Limited [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch) — the first UK ruling to examine how copyright and trade mark law apply to the training and deployment of a generative AI model. The court largely rejected Getty's copyright claims on jurisdictional and evidentiary grounds while making limited trade mark findings, and the judge openly acknowledged the "very real societal importance" of balancing the creative industries against the AI sector. It is precisely the kind of unsettled territory the book examines when it asks where patent protection and exclusive rights fit alongside broad access to foundational technologies.
The patent side is moving just as fast. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reports that generative-AI patent families grew from around 730 in 2014 to more than 14,000 by 2023 — an explosion of filings that forces patent offices and innovators to confront questions of patentable subject matter, inventorship and incentives. One of the book's chapters takes up exactly this theme: whether patent protection can be designed to foster sustainable and inclusive AI rather than simply entrench incumbents.
Competition law: old tools, new markets
The third domain is antitrust. As foundation models and AI partnerships concentrate in a handful of firms, competition authorities are testing whether their existing toolkit fits digital markets. The volume draws practical lessons from the experience of the Italian Competition Authority and asks a sharper question — the role and limits of competition law when AI itself functions as a discovery procedure for innovation. For anyone advising on mergers, market power or digital-market enforcement, this is essential context.
Why this book belongs in your collection
Few volumes connect these three threads — IP, competition and corporate law — under a single, rigorous European lens. That integration is what makes Navigating the (Legal) Challenges of the Artificial Intelligence Era a reference rather than a commentary. It is built for academic and law-firm libraries assembling a current, citable collection on the law of artificial intelligence.
For a wider selection on this subject, download our Artificial Intelligence, Internet & Technology Law 2026 Catalogue (PDF), or browse the full Law collection at CLNZ Books.
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Q&A
How is the EU AI Act being phased in for businesses using AI?
The European Commission has set a staggered timeline: prohibited practices applied from February 2025, general-purpose AI model obligations from August 2025, and most high-risk system rules from August 2026. Organisations deploying AI in the EU should map their use cases against this schedule now.
What did the UK High Court decide in Getty Images v Stability AI?
In its 4 November 2025 judgment, the High Court largely dismissed Getty's copyright claims — partly because the model's training did not take place in the UK — while making limited trade mark findings. It is the first substantive UK ruling on copyright and generative AI, and it leaves several training-data questions still open.
Can AI-generated or AI-assisted inventions be patented?
This is one of the most contested areas in IP law. WIPO data shows generative-AI patent filings have grown enormously, and patent offices worldwide are wrestling with subject-matter eligibility, inventorship and how to incentivise sustainable, inclusive innovation — a theme this book examines directly.
What corporate-law duties does AI create for company boards?
As AI increasingly informs corporate decisions, boards face new responsibilities for internal controls and oversight. The volume analyses these duties alongside emerging instruments such as digital shares, making it useful for corporate counsel and governance professionals.
Where can I buy Navigating the (Legal) Challenges of the Artificial Intelligence Era?
The book is available now from CLNZ Books, a specialist academic and professional bookseller shipping worldwide. The price includes worldwide shipping, with payment by credit card or PayPal and institutional quotes available on request. Order it here →