human authorship Archives | Thomas B. James Esq.

What is in the public domain?

Anything that is not protected by copyright is in the public domain. This includes: Unprotectable subject matter (facts, information, ideas, methods, processes, inventions, titles, names, slogans, short phrases, common geometric shapes, familiar symbols, unoriginal compilations systems (e.g., ordering things alphabetically), works created by U.S. government employees, natural objects formed or shaped by natural forces without

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Can the failure to disclose the use of AI in the creation of a work invalidate a copyright registration?

Where in a copyright application should AI use be disclosed?

Tom James

To disclose the use of artificial intelligence (“AI”) in the creation of a work, specifically identify and describe the AI-generated content in the Limitation of Claim portion of the copyright application. In addition, you will need to specifically describe the human contribution to the work in the Author Created field. You can use the Note

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If I make significant changes to AI-generated content, do I still have to disclose AI use in the copyright application?

Tom James

It may be necessary to disclose AI use in a copyright registration application even if you have made significant changes to the AI-generated content, if the AI-generated content was not de minimis. Copyright may be claimed in significant modifications that a human makes to AI-generated output. Copyright may also be claimed in a human’s selection,

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Is it necessary to disclose the use of AI in a copyright application?

Tom James

The United States Copyright Office requires applicants to disclose the use of AI in the creation of a work if AI was used to create an appreciable amount of the work. When disclosure is required, it is necessary to also describe how it was used in the creation of the work, and to describe the

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Does the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation of a work prevent registration of a copyright in the work?

Tom James

Using AI-generated output in a work does not necessarily prevent registration of a copyright in the work. If a work is entirely AI-generated, then yes, copyright protection cannot be claimed. This is true even if a human provided the prompts for the output. If the output contains significant human-authored expression, however, a claim of copyright

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Is AI-generated output protected by copyright?

Tom James

Content that is generated entirely by an AI (artificial intelligence) system or tool is not protected by copyright. Copyright protection exists only for works created by humans, as explained in an article about the human authorship requirement published in the Law Blog of Thomas James). On the other hand, copyright may be claimed in the

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Does copyright protect photographs?

Tom James

Yes, a photograph is protected by copyright if it is original and created by a human. A “selfie” taken by a monkey or other nonhuman animal is not protected by copyright. Courts have held that only humans can have rights of authorship that are protected by copyright laws. Also, a photograph of another work that

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What are the requirements for a valid copyright?

Tom James

The five requirements for a valid copyright are: Originality Creativity Expression Human authorship Fixation in a tangible medium of expression. An enforceable copyright exists when — and only when — creative, original, human expression is fixed in a tangible medium of expression.