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ARTICLE · 31 MARCH 2026

Copyright In AI Prompts: Chinese Court Ruling On Generative AI And Originality

McCarthy Tétrault
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The rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence has raised fundamental questions about whether prompts used to instruct AI systems can attract copyright protection.

CanadaTechnology
Spotlight Can-Asia Blog
Spotlight Can-Asia Blog
Barry Sookman
Barry Sookman
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The rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence has raised fundamental questions about whether prompts used to instruct AI systems can attract copyright protection. Courts worldwide are now beginning to address a variety of questions related to AI and copyright and have started to examine whether AI prompts constitute original works or merely unprotectable ideas or other subject matter. A recent case, Chengdu Cultural Communication Co., Ltd v Information Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. 2025) Hu 0101 Min Chu No. 14775 (November 6, 2025),1 examined this question in considering whether copyright is capable of subsisting in prompts submitted to an image generative artificial intelligence system (a "GenAI system").

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