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ARTICLE · 05 FEBRUARY 2025

U.S. Copyright Office Issues Report On Copyrightability Of Generative Artificial Intelligence Outputs

Holland & Knight
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The U.S. Copyright Office recently addressed the copyrightability of outputs created using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in Part 2 of its Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Report.

United StatesIntellectual Property
Laura Peggy Merritt
Laura Peggy Merritt
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The U.S. Copyright Office recently addressed the copyrightability of outputs created using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in Part 2 of its Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Report. The Copyright Office concluded that questions of copyrightability and AI can be resolved pursuant to existing law without the need for legislative change.

Key Takeaways

Key takeaways from the Copyright Office's report include the following:

  1. For a work created using AI – like those created without it – a determination of copyrightability continues to require a fact-specific consideration of the work and the circumstances of its creation. Where AI "merely assists" an author in the creative process, it does not change the copyrightability of the output. However, if content is entirely generated by AI, it cannot be protected by copyright.

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