In an article published by Tech Policy Press, Partner Ariel Soiffer and Associate Aric Jain deep dive into AI and copyright law and examine the implications of the four broad schools of thought that have emerged to address the novelty of generative AI under copyright law.
Excerpt: “Questions about copyright and GAIs are being grappled with around the world, with different countries taking different approaches. […] While expecting uniformity in international intellectual property laws is unrealistic and there may be some benefit to each country being a laboratory of copyright experimentation, it is nevertheless important that the United States take an informed approach that balances the rights of human authors with the needs of a burgeoning GAI ecosystem.”
Generative AI uses artificial intelligence technology to produce images, text, audio and other types of content. It trains on itself by way of Input Works, which are vast amounts of human authored data, information, documents etc. Under copyright law, facts, ideas and styles of expression are protected, only the “expression” of ideas is permitted for use. Which raises the question of whether GAIs are permitted to use Input Works. The four schools of thought, Fair Use Minimalism, Fair Use Maximalism, Conditional Fair Use Maximalism and Limited Fair Use Maximalism, consider the scope of the fair use defense and whether Output Works infringe on Input Works.
Ariel Soiffer and Aric Jain discuss the world’s approaches to this ongoing debate, including those of Japan, the EU, UK and so on, ultimately pointing to the United States’ need to choose a consistent philosophical approach to guide intellectual property regulations now and in the future.