Past Lectures
20 March 2024
Digital Powers of Attorney (REZA)
Mgr. Radim Karásek
Register of Representation (REZA)
Radim Karásek is the Head of the Legal Department in the Legal and Legislative Department at the Digital and Information Agency. He has been working on the issues of creation and application of law in the field of digitalization, especially digitalization of public administration, in the Digital and Information Agency and previously in the Ministry of Interior for many years. He is the chairman of the Disputes Committee of the Digital and Information Agency and a member of the Working Committee of the Government Council for the Information Society on Digitally Friendly Legislation. He is also a member of the Disputes Committees of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the National Sports Agency, where he deals mainly with issues of free access to information. He has published expert articles on the topic of digitalization of public administration and lectured not only for the Institute of State and Law of the CAS, but also for schools. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of Charles University.
At present, there is no central tool available in the Czech Republic to manage the registration and maintenance of authorisations for representation, in particular authorisations based on an agreement (power of attorney). Some public authorities use their own solutions, while others work with representation authorisations obtained from public registers or proved by a document, usually a physical one. The proposed legislation on the so-called representation register aims to create a single electronic tool for recording and maintaining information on the authorisation to represent, which can be used by public authorities in electronic and face-to-face meetings. The paper discussed the proposed legislation on the representation register, which was simultaneously being discussed by the legislature.
7 February 2024
Smart Energy Grid
Mgr. Michaela Holíková
Greener Energy Network: Synergy in Climate and Energy Law
Michaela Holíková specializes in the field of cybersecurity, energy, and climate law. She has expertise in implementing security measures, personal data protection, and compliance, gained through her work at the largest Czech ICT company (now ARICOMA) and as the Cybersecurity Manager for clients in public administration.
Currently, Michaela is a member of the Rowan Legal law firm, having transitioned from an international company leading in energy transformation and the implementation of flexible energy network management systems. She graduated from the Faculty of Law at Masaryk University in Brno, successfully defending her thesis on the legal aspects of implementing smart grid technology in the Czech Republic, earning her a master's degree.
Both environmental and energy crises have reshaped perspectives on the production, transmission, and consumption of electrical energy. The traditional model is now influenced by the need to increase the share of energy production from renewable sources, decentralize production, and enhance overall network flexibility. The goal of these changes is to reduce the volume of emissions released into the air by the energy sector, still accounting for 30-40% of the total CO2 emissions. To implement these changes effectively, there must be the ability to collect data from the network and manage it in real-time, hence the concept of a "smart grid." The lecture focused on the current development of the legal framework for the implementation of the smart grid, framed from the outset by the requirements of climate law projected into the regulation of the energy sector.
17 January 2024
Behavioral advertising
Martina Růžičková
Martina Růžičková has worked for many years as a lawyer for the CZECH NEWS CENTER a.s. media house, where she specializes in personal data protection and IP and IT law. The work of the personal data protection officer is carried out not only in the mentioned media house, but also in AC Sparta Praha fotbal a.s. He also has practical experience from a specific sports environment. The issue of personal data is also addressed within the working group focused on this area in the Association for Internet Development. For the year 2022, she was awarded by the Association for the Protection of Personal Data as Officer of the Year for the private sector.
The topic of the lecture was the presentation of the ecosystem of programmatic advertising, its placement in the legal framework and evaluation of the influence of recent decisions of supervisory authorities and courts on its functioning and development. Special attention was paid to the currently widely discussed cookie bar model, the so-called "Pay or Okay", representing a choice between paying for access to the service or accepting cookies associated with advertising.
13 December 2023
Financial fraud and social engineering
Anežka Karpjáková
Anežka Karpjáková is a student of the 2nd year of the doctoral study program "The Law of Information and Communication Technologies" at the Faculty of Law of Masaryk University. As part of her studies, she mainly focuses on the field of cyber security in the banking and financial industry. At the same time, during her studies, she works as a legal expert in the field of financial market supervision at the Czech National Bank.
In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in financial fraud against bank clients based on social engineering methods (e.g. phishing, vishing) in the Czech Republic. In these cases, the attackers often use manipulative practices to try to find out the login details for their internet banking from the client or to convince them to transfer funds to the attacker's account themselves. At the same time, the sophistication of these attacks continues to increase, and it becomes increasingly difficult for bank clients to recognize fraudulent behavior. The lecture presented the most common cases of these types of fraud and new trends and tactics of attackers. Attention was also paid to the question of how to effectively defend against these attacks and what legal protection tools currently exist for bank clients in the event that a fraudulent transaction actually occurs.
8 November 2023
Deepfakes from a technical and security point of view
Karel Malinka, Anton Firc
Deepfakes – opportunity or threat?
Kamil Malinka currently works as an assistant professor at the Faculty of Information Technologies of the BUT in Brno and is a member of the Security@FIT research group, which primarily deals with computer security. His current research interests include the security implications of AI and applicable security.
Anton Firc is currently a doctoral student at the Faculty of Information Technologies.
Deepfakes, a portmanteau of the words "deep learning" and "fake," represent a subset of synthetic media (including voice, video, images, or combinations thereof). These creations are generated using deep neural networks and depict events that never actually happened. Although they have potential positive uses in industries such as filmmaking and education, deepfakes have gained considerable attention primarily because of their potential negative impacts. They can be used for defamation, spreading false information, but also for attacks on biometric authentication systems, vishing or other types of fraud. The lecture presented different types of deepfakes, their creation and detection methods and their impact on IT security.
18 October 2023
Legal Aspects of API
David Myslivec and Tomáš Prokop
Legal Aspects of Software Interoperability
David Myslivec focuses on information and communication technologies, and not only from a legal point of view. He has experience both in the field of advocacy and the private sector, in which he currently works as the business director of the company NETWORG CZ, which focuses on the development of applications in the field of MS Power Platform.
Tomáš is the recipient of the Microsoft MVP award in the Business Applications category and co-founder of NETWORG. As a founding member, he regularly organizes and lectures within the Czech and Slovak Power Platform User Group.
The lecture focused on the legal aspects of software interoperability. Software interoperability is achieved through an interface that is part of a computer program. The computer program is protected by copyright. The speakers dealt with the scope of copyright protection of interfaces, the possibilities of access to unprotected interfaces and the author's interests in protecting the work against public interests. The lecturers presented some solutions that could lead to ensuring a greater degree of interoperability.
20 September 2023
Non-personal Data in Autonomous Driving
dr. Zdeněk Lokaj
Protection of non-personal data and databases in autonomous driving systems
Dr. Zdeněk Lokaj, Ph.D., LL.M. is an expert in cooperative systems in road transport, autonomous mobility and safety at the Faculty of Transport of the Czech Technical University in Prague, where he regularly gives lectures and leads research projects. He started his career at Accenture, where he focused on information systems for the field of transportation systems. Subsequently, he worked for Microsoft, where he was in charge of the delivery of services to customers in the field of production and energy. In 2009, he returned to the academic sphere and leads research and development projects in the field of transport telematics, electronic identification and transport systems in road transport, especially cooperative systems and safety. He is a member of the presidium of the Association for Transport Telematics and a forensic expert in the fields of cybernetics, communications and transport.
In autonomous driving systems, gigabytes of data will flow, which can be of a different nature, from completely anonymous data to personal data to non-personal data. Many research and development teams deal with the protection of personal data, but non-personal data and databases are very often in the background, however, the risks arising from their processing and storage are significant and this area needs to be seriously addressed. The lecture dealt with important aspects of the protection of non-personal data and what paths lead to it.
21 June 2023
European Digital Identity Wallet
Jaromír Talíř
European Identification and European Digital Identity Wallet
Jaromír Talíř has been part of the management of the CZ.NIC association for many years and participated in the development of both the domain registration system, which is now operated in the national domains of many other countries around the world, as well as the development of the mojeID authentication service. He is also the head of the technical working group of the organization CENTR, which brings together European domain administrators. In the field of digital identity, he represents the Czech Republic in the eIDAS Technical SubGroup, which defines technical standards for cross-border electronic identification in connection with the eIDAS regulation.
The lecture summarized the current state of cross-border electronic identification and how the functioning of the new planned European Digital Identity Wallet differs from the current state. The lecture also focused on the basic building elements of the ecosystem of this wallet, as defined by the current version of the ARF (Architecture and Reference Framework). The lecture also covered the preparation, the current state and role of LSPs (Large Scale Pilots).
17 May 2023
Private law aspects of eIDAS 2.0
Dr. Adam Jareš
Impacts of the revision of the eIDAS regulation on private acts
Dr. Adam Jareš has experience in advocacy, in the public and private sectors. He passed the rigorous exam in the specialization Law of Information and Communication Technologies with work focused on the private law regulation of cryptocurrencies. As part of his doctoral studies, he focused on electronic private law negotiations. He regularly publishes and participates in academic and other projects.
The lecture was focused on the private law aspects of the revision of the eIDAS regulation. Dr. Jareš summarized the decision-making practice of Czech lower courts. He also dealt with the effects of the revision of the regulation on private law transactions, such as greater availability of means for creating trusted electronic signatures and new trust-building services – qualified electronic archiving and electronic ledger services. Dr. Jareš spoke about the requirements of the Czech Civil Code for electronic legal acts and the provability of electronic documents in civil proceedings.
19 April 2023
Regulation of artificial intelligence from the point of view of an AI researcher and entrepreneur
Law on artificial intelligence from the perspective of an AI researcher and entrepreneur
Dr. Adam Kordík
Dr. Pavel Kordík is an associate professor at the Faculty of Information Technologies of the Czech Technical University. At the same time, he is the vice-dean of the faculty for cooperation with industry. He deals with artificial intelligence, data mining, optimization and visualization of information. Dr. Kordík coordinates the Computational Intelligence Research Group and some activities of the Data Science Laboratory.
As an entrepreneur dr. Kordík co-founded the company unico.ai, which serves as a bridge between academia and industry. Dr. Kordík further commercializes research results at Recombee, where he builds advanced recommendation systems.
The development of artificial intelligence is accelerating and every day there are new issues that need to be dealt with legally. In the lecture, dr. Kordík focused on how AI algorithms work from a technical point of view in a form understandable to non-techies. Doc. Kordík also presented several examples where AI researchers and entrepreneurs encounter legal problems. The main topic of the lecture was recommender systems and generative AI, which is currently moving the world.
15 March 2023
DSM Directive and Remuneration of Authors
Remuneration of authors after the transposition of the DSMD in Slovakia
Dr. Zuzana Adamová
Dr. Zuzana Adamová is an expert on legal aspects in the field of new technologies and intellectual property. She is the director of the Institute of Intellectual Property Law and Information Technologies at the University of Trnava and works at the law firm PETKOV & Co. She works as a patent attorney and as an expert within the Arbitration Center for Alternative Resolution of Domain Disputes within the European Information Society Institute, where she decides disputes for '.sk' domains.
The Digital Single Market Copyright Directive (2019/790) requires EU Member States to ensure that authors and performers, when they license or transfer exclusive rights to exploit their works or other subject-matter, are entitled to an adequate and proportional remuneration. Dr. Adamová presented and evaluated the main changes to the copyright law in connection with the transposition of this directive. The lecturer also presented the overall setting of the remuneration of authors and performing artists in the Slovak legal system.
15 February 2023
New regulation of liability or artificial intelligence
New directives on liability for defective products and artificial intelligence
Dr. Anežka Janoužková
Dr. Anežka Janoušková works as an assistant professor at the Department of Civil Law of Charles University in Prague and at the same time, she is a head of the civil law department of procedural and insolvency legislation at the legislative department of the Czech Ministry of Justice. In her research, she focused on the issue of substantive and procedural civil law, especially on liability and damages and on class actions. She is also a lecturer and author of numerous publications.
In September 2022, the European Commission presented two new proposals for directives on liability for damage. The first proposal is a revision of the Product Liability Directive, the second one is called the Directive on liability for artificial intelligence. According to the Commission, the directives aim to adapt liability rules to the digital age, the circular economy and the impact of global value chains. Dr. Janoušková presented these two proposals and their starting points and then she focused on their problematic points in both theoretical and practical terms.
14 December 2022
Artificial intelligence in public administration
Constitutional barriers to the use of artificial intelligence in public administration
Dr. Martin Husovec
Dr. Martin Husovec is an associate professor, university lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Law, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in London. He specializes in intellectual property law, law and technology, freedom of expression and privacy. He studied law at P.J. Šafárik University in Košice (2006–2011) and Masaryk University in Brno (2009–2010). He received his Ph.D. at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition and the Ludwig Maximilian Universität in Munich (2012–2015). Between 2016 and 2020, he worked as a university teacher in the Netherlands at Tilburg University, at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology and Society (TILT) and the Tilburg Law and Economics Center (TILEC).
In his lecture dr. Husovec dealt with the use of algorithmic tools in public administration, which is currently becoming more widespread. Automation of processes using algorithms takes the form of preparing decisions and issuing them. This automation is also used for various forms of assessment of citizens. In some countries, automation is moving to the level of using artificial intelligence. Dr. Husovec presented the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic in the case of eKasa (PL. ÚS 25/2019), which establishes constitutional barriers for public administration for the use of these technologies. Dr. Husovec also dealt with court decisions in some European states and norm-making at the level of the European Union and the Council of Europe.
23 November 2022
Legal regulation of cloud computing
New regulation of cloud computing
Jakub Klodwig
Jakub Klodwig is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Law and Technology of the MU Faculty of Law and a lawyer at the Eldison law firm. He specializes in cloud computing regulation, personal data protection, online marketing and cyber security. In the past, Jakub Klodwig worked at the National Cyber and Information Security Agency, where he participated in the creation of decrees on cloud computing, the assessment of cloud computing offers and the agenda resulting from the Act on Cybersecurity. Jakub Klodwig also lectures within the Czech Center of Excellence for Cybercrime C4e.
In his lecture, Jakub Klodwig dealt with the new legal regulation of cloud computing according to the Act on Public Administration Information Systems and the Act on Cybersecurity, including all implementing legislation. During the lecture, the lecturer explained the cloud computing catalog, the selection of a cloud computing service provider in the procurement process and the conclusion of a contract with this provider. During the lecture, the upcoming regulation of the European Union and its influence on the existing system were also mentioned.
26 October 2022
Cybersecurity and NIS 2
The revision of the European cybersecurity framework
Dr. Jozef Andraško
Jozef Andraško, Ph.D., is an associate professor and a director of the Institute of Information Technology Law and Intellectual Property Law at the Faculty of Law of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. In his research work and publications, he mainly focuses on issues of cyber security, autonomous vehicles, e-Government, electronic identity and open data. He is the co-author of the commentary on the Slovak Act on Cybersecurity and the textbook Law of Cybersecurity.
The lecture focused on the basic changes brought about by the draft of NIS 2 Directive, i.e. the directive regulating cybersecurity. Dr. Andraško presented this directive in a comparison with the effective NIS directive. Dr. Andraško further addressed the scope of the proposed directive, notification obligations, security measures, oversight and enforcement and sanctions issues, and the impact of the directive on the public sector.
21 September 2022
Artificial intelligence and copyright
Artificial intelligence as a technological challenge to copyright
Dr. Jan Zibner
Jan Zibner is an expert in information and communication technology law with an emphasis on intellectual property law, data protection, artificial intelligence and blockchain. He has experience both with theoretical doctrine and with the practical application of individual legal solutions to various projects and various types of art, both at the national and international level, independently or specialized for selected law firms. In the given areas, he is a practicing lawyer but her is also a lecturer and author of numerous publications.
AI is a phenomenon with a significant impact on the field of copyright. Due to the wide possibilities of artificial intelligence, all kinds of works are created without a clear definition regarding copyright protection. The law, even on a general level, is still looking for a way to grasp artificial intelligence. It is therefore necessary to define artificial intelligence in relation to the two most important categories of copyright - author's work and authorship. At the same time, the main role is represented by the creative activity of artificial intelligence and the search for a specific author of a creation that is created with the use of artificial intelligence. The lecture was also devoted to reflections on the possibilities of modifying the existing regulatory framework with the aim of eliminating emerging ambiguities.
29 June 2022
Draft Regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCA)
The EU and regulation of crypto-assets
František Vinopal
František Vinopal focuses on the area of regulation of financial services in connection with the use of modern technologies, payment services, electronic money and cryptocurrencies. He gained experience at the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, in leading Czech banks and as a senior lawyer and compliance officer in Czech and foreign fintech companies. He currently serves as the chairman of the Czech cryptocurrency association and leads important domestic and foreign regulatory projects in the field of crypto-assets and financial services.
František Vinopal presented the EU proposal for the MiCA regulation. He introduced the participants to the content of the proposal for a regulation of the handling of crypto-assets and the rules for offering and issuing crypto-assets, including the consequences for the application of the proposed regulation and for persons who provide services related to crypto-assets.
18 May 2022
Proposal for Data Act
Proposal for a Data Act in the context of personal data protection
Veronika Žolnerčíková
Veronika Žolnerčíková is an expert in ICT law, a researcher at the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and a specialist at the C4E Center of Masaryk University. She is currently a PhD student at the Department of Law and Technology, Faculty of Law, Masaryk University. Her research topic is the legal aspects of artificial intelligence. She also studied new technology law in her previous practice at the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Justice and at the law firm. Veronika Žolnerčíková lectures at Masaryk University and Brno University of Technology.
Veronika Žolnerčíková presented the EU draft of the Data Act from February 2022 and its connection with the draft regulations of Data Governance Act and AI Act. Veronika Žolnerčíková spoke about the consequences for the application of existing legislation and possible conflicts (personal data protection, digital market, digital services) and about the opinion of companies processing big data, which were addressed within the Big Data 4 AI project on the proposed legislation.
30 March 2022
Whistleblower protection
Whistleblower protection in the Czech Republic
Jiří Kapras
JUDr. Jiří Kapras graduated from the Faculty of Law of Charles University. He worked as an associate lawyer in a Prague law firm focusing on criminal law, then in the criminal law department of the Ministry of Justice, focusing on the issue of terrorist offenses and assistance to victims of crimes. Since 2016, he has been dealing with the issue of conflicts of interest of public officials and the fight against corruption, focusing on the regulation of lobbying and the protection of whistleblowers. He works as the director of the Department of Conflict of Interest and the Fight against Corruption of the Czech Ministry of Justice. He is the chairman of the Working Committee on Conflicts of Interest of the Government Council for the Coordination of the Fight against Corruption and a member of the author's team for the preparation of a new and amended edition of the commentary on the Conflict of Interest Act. He publishes occasionally in professional periodicals for legal practice.
Dr. Jiří Kapras focused in his lecture on the process of the implementation of the Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons reporting breaches of Union law into the Czech law, the direct vertical effect of this Directive and its effects on public law entities. Furthermore, dr. Kapras dealt with the substantive aspects of minimum harmonization of national legislation (especially the rights of whistleblowers and the obligations of employers).
23 February 2022
Data Protection in Automated Driving
Watching you watching the road: data protection implications of automated driving
Nynke Vellinga and Gerard Ritsema van Eck
Nynke Vellinga is a postdoctoral researcher at the STeP research group of the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Back in 2020, Nynke successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled ‘Legal Aspects of Automated Driving. On Drivers, Producers, and Public Authorities’, at the same university. Currently, Nynke is a member of the ITU focus group on AI for autonomous and assisted driving. The legal framework for cybersecurity in automated vehicles (as part of the Cybersecurity Noord-Nederland project) is one of Nynke’s main research focuses.
Gerard Ritsema van Eck is an assistant professor in IT-law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. His research focuses on the impacts of emerging surveillance technologies on the free enjoyment of human rights in public spaces. He is a member of Research Ethics Review Committee of the Law Faculty (CETOR) and teacher and member of advisory board Frijlande Privacy Management.
Vehicles are becoming more automated, necessitating the use of sensors and cameras both inside and outside the vehicle. In their talk dr. Vellinga and dr. Ritsema van Eck highlighted some illogicalities and inconsistencies in a recent regulation concerning automated driving. The General Safety Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/2144, hereafter: GSR) will make sensors and cameras, as well as the recording of data collected by this equipment, mandatory. The introduction of all these cameras and sensors has grave implications for data protection. The GSR acknowledges this. The technologies that require data from sensors and cameras are used to determine whether the driver is fit and able to drive. Therefore, health data is collected. The processing of this type of data is prohibited under art 9(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679, hereinafter: GDPR). However, article 9(2)g GDPR provides an exception to this restriction where there is a basis in Union or member state legislation.
26 January 2022
Employee and corporate patents
Business (employee) invention and its remuneration - concepts and recommendations for practice
Martin Boháček
In his lecture, Professor Boháček focused on corporate (employee) patents and their remuneration. He compared employee’s patent with the regulation of employee utility models, industrial designs and copyright. Professor Boháček also mentioned inventions created by external inventors on the basis of a contract for work, students, researchers on an internship at another institution, in joint research, etc. The lecture also contained some recommendations for practice. In detail, Professor Boháček focused on the conditions of reasonable remuneration and additional settlement.
Prof. JUDr. Martin Boháček, CSc. is a professor at the Department of Corporate and European Law at the Faculty of International Relations of the University of Economics in Prague. Prof. Boháček focuses on intellectual property law, competition law, computer law and information and communication technologies, comparative commercial law and commercial law in general. He is the author of a number of publications and the co-author of the publication Remuneration of employee (corporate) patents and its adequacy - legal and economic aspects.