How many times will AI prove that our copyright laws are no longer fit for purpose?
Once again, the U.S. Copyright Office has refused to register an image because it was originally generated by an algorithm, despite the fact that its author, throughout a creative process starting with Midjourney, had subjected it to numerous revisions and had edited it significantly using Photoshop.
The image is the well-known “Theatre D’opera Spatial,” which won its author, Jason M. Allen, a local art contest in October 2022. Previously, the US Copyright Office had also refused to register the images of a graphic novel, “Zarya of the Dawn”, written by Kris Kashtanova and also illustrated using Midjourney (in this case it accepted the registration of the texts, written by the author); and artwork created by a developer, Stephen Thaler, using DABUS, an algorithm also created by himself.
What does all this mean? I believe that it’s proof that copyright law as we understand it, based on the Statute of Anne dating back 313 years ago, is no longer valid. Firstly, because the system systematically results in the…
