In a recent lawsuit, Jason Allen, a board game designer, is challenging the U.S. Copyright Office’s decision to deny copyright protection for his award-winning image created using AI software. The image, titled “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial,” won first prize at the Colorado State Fair and has faced issues with other artists stealing and selling the work as their own on platforms like Amazon, Etsy, and NFT marketplace OpenSea. Allen believes this backlash is rooted in accusations of cheating in the competition by using AI tools.
The lawsuit comes at a critical moment for artists and creators, as the legality of AI companies training generative models using copyrighted works has been brought into question. A group of artists has filed a class action lawsuit against AI companies like Midjourney, Stability AI, and Runway for allegedly using billions of copyrighted artworks without consent or compensation to train their AI models. The debate has led to a broader conversation around copyright infringement in the age of AI.
The Copyright Office has been grappling with the implications of AI on ownership and intellectual property. In March 2023, it issued a ruling that it won’t grant copyright registrations for works that are fully AI-generated, but there is room for works that demonstrate a certain level of human authorship and creativity. The agency has registered over 100 works that contain AI-generated elements like song lyrics, written text, and visual elements, indicating a nuanced approach to copyright protection in the digital age.
Allen is not the only artist challenging the Copyright Office’s decision. Elisa Shupe, an author who used ChatGPT to write a book, successfully appealed and won a copyright for the selection and arrangement of AI-generated text. This ruling opens up possibilities for protecting works that involve AI assistance, highlighting the evolving nature of copyright law in relation to artificial intelligence.
Despite the challenges he has faced, Allen continues to create and sell fine art prints of illustrations generated with AI tools through his online gallery. He sees himself as a digital creator rather than an artist and emphasizes the importance of being able to create hundreds of pictures with AI assistance under copyright protection. Allen believes that the effort and intent put into creating a work, even with the help of AI, should qualify as human expression and creativity deserving of copyright protection.
The outcome of Allen’s lawsuit could have far-reaching implications for how AI-generated works are protected under copyright law. As the debate around AI and creativity continues, artists, creators, and AI companies are navigating a complex legal landscape that is shaping the future of intellectual property rights in the digital age. The intersection of AI and copyright law raises questions about ownership, authorship, and the evolving role of technology in the creative process.
