Sep 9, 2020
COPYRIGHT AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
By Kanika Jain
Copyright refers to a legal right which provides protection and authorization to the original creations of human mind and intellect. Such work may be protected once the creation becomes an expression of the author and not merely an idea. Section 14 of the of the Copyright Act, 1957 states that a copyright is a collection of several other rights with respect to the subject matter or the content created. It refers to the right to enjoy the subject matter and use the same for economic purposes. Further, Section 17 of the said Act states that the author of the work shall be the owner of the copyright, Nevertheless, if the work is created upon instruction of employer under a contract for consideration, then eventually the owner of the work will be the employer. The rationale behind the requirement of author being a natural person is based on the observations of Courts, in determining copyright in a work. Some instances are as follows:
- Author is known as the first owner of the copyright.[1]
- Elements of authorship in selection, arrangement and coordination of material are necessary for protection of a compilation.[2]
- Compilation developed by any person devoting time, money, skill and labour amounted to a literary work wherein the author had a copyright.[3]
- The copyright-ability of the work is tested from the original work and exercise of skill and judgments by the author.[4]
In the case of Rupendra Kashyap Vs. Jiwan Publishing House Pvt. Ltd[5], the Hon’ble Court held “that in the context of question papers for an examination, that the author of the examination paper is a person who has compiled the questions; the person who does this compiling, is a natural person, a human being, and not an artificial person; Central Board of Secondary Education is not a natural person and it would be entitled to claim copyright in the examination papers only if it establishes and proves that it has engaged persons specifically for purposes of preparation of compilation, known as question papers, with a contract that copyright therein will vest in Central Board of Secondary Education”.[6]
On the other hand, the artworks based on Artificial Intelligence are relied heavily on the programmer who gives the input for creation of the work. However, with technological advancement, AI has developed a capability of understanding and creating outputs without any human interference.[7] The main issue raised, is regarding the protection of work created by AI. With the existing IP laws in India (especially copyright) the idea of copyright protection for the work created by AI seems to be difficult. In cases, where the work created by Artificial Intelligence is through human interference, then the authorship shall be attributed to the human. On the other hand, where the work created by AI is without human interference, then in such cases the laws related to authorship is silent. Furthermore, an assumption can be derived that the programming of AI is rendered in such a manner that it can create and produce equations to generate a result on its own Continue Reading…
