On March 18, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the rejection of Stephen Thaler's application to copyright A Recent Entrance to Paradise, a work claimed to be authored by a machine. The court concluded that the Copyright Act of 1976 mandates that all eligible works must originate from a human author, thus reinforcing the legitimacy of copyright in a world increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence. While the ruling is doctrinally sound, as articulated by Judge Millet, its practical implications are minimal; it does not hinder the protection of AI-generated works, as it merely attributes authorship to the individual who utilized the AI. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, the court used conventional statutory interpretation to assert that "author" exclusively refers to human beings. It refrained from addressing broader constitutional questions of authorship or whether Thaler himself could qualify as an author, given that he initially conceded the lack of traditional human authorship when applying to the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO). The court's affirmation was based on textual analysis, concluding that the provisions of the Act logically necessitate human authorship, highlighting that machines cannot own property, lack lifespan, and have no heirs. The D.C. Circuit's examination underscored that the Act has historically acknowledged non-human authorship in specific contexts, such as works made for hire. Despite the court's laborious reasoning, it did not undermine existing doctrine practically, allowing for a symbolic victory for human authorship while acknowledging the rising significance of AI in creative fields. Ultimately, the decision maintains the centrality of human authors in copyright law, asserting that machines are devoid of the subjective qualities necessary for authorship, while reinforcing a narrative that prioritizes the public interest in the realm of copyright.
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