Victoria Furniss and a team of industry veterans have launched AiPhelion, a consulting firm dedicated to navigating the complexities of intellectual property in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
Victoria Furniss and Industry Veterans Launch AiPhelion
EXCLUSIVE: A quartet of industry veterans with experience at Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros., and NBCUniversal have teamed up to launch AiPhelion, a consulting firm focused on intellectual property in the AI age.
Founding Partners and Their Expertise
The founding partners include Netflix and Warner Bros. alum Victoria Furniss, who will lead the company as CEO, along with co-founders Michael Jury, Bret Boivin, and John Byrne. With backgrounds spanning the U.S., UK, and Europe, the partners will primarily operate in London and L.A. They bring a blend of legal, business, media, tech, and regulatory experience to offer clients expertise across multiple marketplaces.
Aim and Vision of AiPhelion
The company aims to help businesses in the media, entertainment, and tech sectors leverage AI while managing risks and protecting the rights of intellectual property owners. The rise of AI has led to a surge of litigation and labor unrest, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA both striking in 2023 due to advances in technology threatening traditional jobs. Recently, Disney and NBCUniversal sued AI firm Midjourney for copyright infringement. As billions of dollars flow into the AI sector, studios and streamers are cautiously integrating AI into their workflows, facing economic challenges to traditional business models.
Leadership Experience
During her tenure at Netflix and Warner Bros., Furniss led teams that connected creativity and technology. She also founded the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, a coalition that includes Hollywood studios and tech companies.
Jury, who spent over a decade at Disney, is overseeing global business development strategy at AiPhelion and serves as an adjunct professor focused on IP and AI at USC Gould Law School.
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Boivin, AiPhelion’s CTO, is a co-founder and former CTO of Incopro, whose technology protects over 750 global brands, including Richemont and Harley Davidson. He has also held content protection roles at Warner Bros. and NBCU.
Byrne brings extensive media and tech experience to AiPhelion as an advisor, board member, and investor. He previously headed Dorsey & Whitney’s London office and co-founded Therium, a notable European litigation funding business.
Innovative Approach to IP and AI
“Each founding partner carries the credibility of Big Law and Major Studio victories but operates with startup agility,” Furniss stated. “There’s no exact parallel to what we are seeing with AI right now, but we can see analogies with the creative industries’ fight against online piracy. Each team member has deep experience in this space and brings that battle-tested wisdom to AI’s Wild West. When the stakes are high and the playbook is undefined, you want a team that has already won IP battles and learned from past mistakes.”
Byrne remarked that AiPhelion “isn’t just another consultancy – we are at the convergence of IP and AI.” The firm aims to tackle what he describes as “Law & Policy 3.0,” an emerging body of policy, theory, and business practice where “deep knowledge and strong communication meet entrepreneurial spirit, where flexibility defeats rigid hierarchy, and where knowledge and ethics become competitive weapons.”
Boivin added that while there is “a lot of noise” as AI disruptions unfold, AiPhelion’s partners are “continually in deep research mode” to guide clients. Jury emphasized a founding principle of the firm: “We believe in rewarding creative labor and in ethical tech that enhances, not replaces, creative work. Our use of cutting-edge tech amplifies human insight, making it more efficient without replacement.”
