Supreme Court Denies Petition On Copyright Authorship By AI

On March 2, 2026, the Supreme Court denied certiorari filed by Dr. Stephen Thaler, who sought review of the U.S. Copyright Office's denial of copyright protection to various works created by Thaler's "DABUS" artificial intelligence.

The key question presented in the petition was "[w]hether works outputted by an AI system without a direct, traditional authorial contribution by a natural person can be copyrighted." The petition came after a judgment by the D.C. Circuit which affirmed (from the District Court of D.C.) the Copyright Office's refusal to register a copyright in a work generated by the DABUS model, on the basis that it "lack[ed] the human authorship necessary to support a copyright claim."