Copyright Act, 1957 And Artificial Intelligence: Will The Real Copyright Owner Please Stand Up?

Tiyasha Neogi, B.A. LL.B, Lloyd Law College

ABSTRACT

The recent advance of AI into creative fields of literature and art that are protected by copyright laws has necessitated a critical analysis of their contributions with respect to the intellectual property rights. The paper analyses the current state of Indian copyright laws and implications of copyrighting AI generated creations. The Copyright Act clarifies that only a natural person can be the author. The Delhi High Court held that copyright cannot exist without a natural author. However, it does not account for artificial intelligence programs that are self-evolving and do not require human intervention to continuously produce new and original works. The author argues that assimilation of AI produced work into the public domain appears to be the best possible solution. There is an urgent need to develop proper legislative framework to regulate the production of new works produced by artificial intelligence systems.