Dr Atilla Kasap
Research Fellow in Law
- a.kasap@uos.ac.uk
- School/Directorate
- School of Business, Arts, Social Sciences and Technology
- Atilla Kasap ORCID
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Dr Atilla Kasap is a law and technology scholar who joined the University of Suffolk as a Research Fellow in Law in March 2026. In recognition of his contributions to the field of law and technology, he was endorsed as an exceptional talent by the British Academy. Prior to joining Suffolk, he secured prestigious funding from the Japan Patent Office and conducted research as an Invited Researcher at the Institute of Intellectual Property in Tokyo. He also worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the law of digitisation and trade at the University of Sussex. He previously served as an Assistant Professor of Law at Ondokuz Mayis University, where he held various academic and administrative roles.
Dr Kasap received his legal education in three different jurisdictions, encompassing both civil law and common law systems. He holds an SJD from Wake Forest University (USA), an LLM with distinction from Queen Mary University of London (UK), and an LLB from Istanbul University (Turkey). He is a qualified lawyer registered with the Istanbul Bar Association and worked as a lawyer in Istanbul during the early stages of his career.
Core modules - contracts, torts, unjust enrichment
Optional modules - intellectual property law, information technology law
Atilla’s research aims to bridge the gap between emerging technologies and the law, focusing on the intersections of intellectual property, artificial intelligence and robotics, legal liability for emerging technologies, and data privacy. He employs a range of methods to ensure both breadth and depth in his research, including doctrinal, comparative, and interdisciplinary approaches.
For example, drawing on a technical understanding of automated vehicle (AV) technology, he argued in his doctoral dissertation that AVs build upon conventional motor vehicle technology and should therefore be subject to existing regulations designed for human drivers, which may create hurdles for AV innovation. He further proposed that the burden of proof should be reversed in product liability and negligence claims involving AVs, as aggrieved parties are likely to face practical difficulties in proving defects in systems that do not have a static design and instead rely on machine learning algorithms. A few years later, regulators in the US, the UK, and the EU enacted or proposed similar legal solutions, aligning with his earlier proposals.
During his research in Japan, he adopted an evidence-based approach by identifying potential AI-related patents in patent databases that could be included in patent pools, enabling licensing to SMEs and start-ups at a reasonable cost.
His selected publications are as follows:
Books
Autonomous Vehicles: Tracing the Locus of Regulation and Liability (Edward Elgar 2022)
Book Chapters
Big Data and Transport Mobility in Subhajit Basu and Audrey Guinchard (eds), A Research Agenda for Big Data and Law (Edward Elgar 2026) (forthcoming)
Journal Articles
Regulating Critical Technologies: National Security and Intellectual Property (2026) Journal of World Intellectual Property (Prof Phoebe Li)
Philosophical Grounds for Regulating the Lawful Operation of Autonomous Vehicles (2026) 40(1) International Review of Law, Computers and Technology 28-50
Patentability of AI-Generated Inventions under Turkish Law in Light of DABUS Decisions (2025) 7(1) Digital Law Review 79-186 (Dr Büşra Şahin Aydın)
States' Approaches to Autonomous Vehicle Technology in Light of Federal Law (2023) 19(2) Ohio State Technology Law Journal 315 - 412
Artificial Intelligence Entities and Legal Personality under Turkish Law in the Light of Current Developments (2022) 4(2) Zeitschrift Für Türkisch-Deutsche Rechsstudien 485-556
Copyright and Creative Artificial Intelligence Systems: A Twenty-First Century Approach to Authorship of AI-Generated Works in the United States (2019) 19 Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law 336-378
Report
Exploring Patent Pools as a Regulatory Tool for Managing AI-Related Patents and Building Trustworthy AI in Japan: A Comparative Study with the United States and the European Union (2026) Institute of Intellectual Property Report (forthcoming)
Written Evidence to Government Committees
UK Trade Policy Observatory and Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy – Written Evidence (ACP0028) (Dr. Peter Holmes, Dr. Atilla Kasap, Dr. Manuel Tong Koecklin, Prof. Emily Lydgate, Dr. Minako Morita-Jaeger and Dr. Xinyan Zhao)
Conferences
Resolving the UK's Copyright and AI Dilemma: Leveraging Comparative Advantage for a Tailored TDM Exception (BILETA Annual Conference, London, April 2025)
Data Governance in Critical Technologies: National Security and Intellectual Property (9th APSN Conference on International and Comparative Law in Data Governance, Taiwan, August 2024) (Prof Phoebe Li)
Are FTAs Driving Force for Regulatory Convergence (Coherence) on Private Data Protection?: the Case Study of Japan (CITP Academic Conference, Nottingham, April 2024) (Dr Minako Morita-Jaeger)
Philosophical Grounds for Determining or Regulating the Operation of Autonomous Vehicles (BILETA Annual Conference, Dublin, April 2024)
As a qualified lawyer in Turkey, Atilla represented major international technology firms early in his career, particularly in court proceedings involving consumer law disputes. During his academic career, he has continued to advise telecommunications firms on law and technology matters. In addition, he has delivered numerous talks as an invited speaker at seminars and workshops alongside legal practitioners.
Building upon his academic and legal career, Atilla has engaged with scholars and practitioners across the US, the UK, the EU, Turkey, Japan, and China. During his research in Japan, he conducted interviews with Japanese and international practitioners and scholars, and presented his findings to major Japanese technology companies, SMEs, and academics. He has been regularly attending the British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association conferences, where his work was nominated for the BILETA–EJLT Prize in 2024 and 2025. He also serves as a peer reviewer for the International Journal of Law and Information Technology, Digital Society, Journal of World Intellectual Property, American Philosophical Quarterly, and Media and Communication, as well as for national Turkish journals.
Atilla has been awarded Fellowship (FHEA) by Advance HE. He is a member of AIPPI (the International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property). He has been admitted to practise as a lawyer in Istanbul since 2014.