Re:Who should own the copyright of AI-generated art?
by Thiez on Sunday June 14, 2020 @04:20AM
(#23515970)
I think it is perhaps interesting to compare to photography. There a human picks the initial parameters (position, angle, lens, time of day), presses a button, and then the camera (a device) does all the work. It is not controversial that photographers have a copyright on their work.
Re:Who should own the copyright of AI-generated art?
by dwheeler on Sunday June 14, 2020 @02:20PM
(#23519927)
You're right, it is not controversial today that photographers have a copyright on their work. Which is why the monkey selfie is so important. In the monkey selfie case, a photographer did set up the equipment, which means that some of the parameters were indeed established by a human. However, the monkey actually created the picture, including the timing and body placement. The copyright office has determined that the work could not be copyrighted.
Which leads to the conclusion that at least in some cases,a human doing some setup is not enough to grant a copyright.
The US Copyright Office says: "The crucial question is “whether the ‘work’ is basically one of human authorship, with the computer [or other device] merely being an assisting instrument, or whether the traditional elements of authorship in the work (literary, artistic, or musical expression or elements of selection, arrangement, etc.) were actually conceived and executed not by man but by a machine.” U.S. Copyright office, Report to the Librarian of Congress by the Register of Copyrights (1966)."
While the dividing line is fuzzy, it is clear that as soon as you're claiming that the art was generated by AI, you are fighting an uphill battle to get a copyright registered.
Again, I am not a lawyer.