Partner Ron Dreben shared his insights with World IP Review about the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit’s decision in Thaler v. Perlmutter, which affirmed that artificial intelligence (AI) systems cannot be recognized as authors under US copyright law. Ron discussed how businesses can protect intellectual property created through the use of AI.
“They should use enterprise products that keep their input and output in a secure environment. They can then try to protect their output as confidential, when possible, and by contract in other situations,” Ron said.
He added that branding AI-generated content with company trademarks or using watermarks may provide additional protection.
Ron also noted he predicts more copyright applications that outline human contributions, such as initial inputs or post-generation modifications.
“The human authorship can also be the order, sequence and arrangement of human work and AI output. Companies may feel a need to try to get some aspect(s) of the output registered to show that work performed with AI tools generates something protectable," Ron said.
Regarding the global impact of the decision, Ron explained that AI firms fear restrictions on training data could disadvantage them globally.
“Some companies may conduct training in countries that may be less likely to find such use to be an infringement, like Japan and Singapore,” he said.
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