The United States Copyright Office (USCO) has published a report titled “Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Part 2: Copyrightability,” which addresses the copyright status of works produced with generative AI. The findings indicate that existing copyright laws can adequately address issues of copyrightability concerning AI-generated works without necessitating new legislation. The report emphasizes that while AI can assist human creativity, it does not diminish the copyright eligibility of the resulting outputs. Specifically, copyright protects the original expressions of human authors, even when AI-generated elements are present. However, purely AI-generated works, or those lacking significant human input in their expressive components, do not qualify for copyright protection. Determining whether human contributions to AI-generated outputs are sufficient for authorship requires a case-by-case evaluation. The report asserts that prompts alone typically do not provide adequate control over the creative aspects of the output. Human authors retain copyright over their perceptible contributions in AI-generated works, including the creative selection and arrangement of materials. The report also concludes that there is no compelling argument for additional copyright protections for AI-generated content. In Canada, the copyrightability of AI-generated works is similarly under scrutiny. A notable case involves the painting “Suryast,” created by Ankit Sahni using an AI tool, which was co-registered with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO). However, a recent ruling by the USCO's Copyright Review Board denied copyright registration for “Suryast” in the U.S., citing insufficient human authorship. If Canadian courts align with this decision, it may lead to the removal of “Suryast” from CIPO's registry. Should Canada adopt a more lenient stance on copyright for AI-generated works, it could raise complex issues regarding ownership, licensing, and moral rights associated with such creations.
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