Copyrights Protection Of Works Generated By Artificial Intelligence

The real impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the various fields of Law is still largely unknown. However, as stated in the European Parliament resolution of 16 February 2017 with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics (2015/2103(INL)) (v. 015/2103(INL)), no one doubts that this industrial revolution "is likely to leave no stratum of society untouched", which is why is "vitally important for the legislature to consider its legal and ethical implications and effects, without stifling innovation" (vid. p. 3, B).

Intellectual Property (IP) is one of the law fields where industry 4.0, led by AI, has raised more questions. Among the most problematics, there is one with special relevance: the protection of works generated by Artificial Intelligence.

The commercial impact is unquestionable. AI is already being used worldwide to produce literary, musical, journalistic and artistic works.

It is known the recent case of the Portuguese artist Leonel Moura, who conceived a robot that creates artistic works, one of them was even sold in an auction by the amount of Euro 5.000,00.

The case of the art work "The Next Rembrandt" is also well known. It was created through AI, using algorithms to identify the geometric patterns of the 17th century painter Rembrandt van Rijn. The goal was to recreate a Rembrandt painting, if was made by the painter itself.

Against this background, the main question is to know if these works can be protected by copyright, since the human contribution is minimal or does not exist at all.

This issue is not entirely new. In fact, it started in the mid-20th century with the computer-generated works. As computers were being introduced as aid tools in the creative process of the human being, this matter received a much sharper focus. More than a total absence of a human creative contribution, most of the cases related to computer-generated works related to the difficulty to identify the contribution of the author, although this existed.

Well, the problem that we face nowadays is different: AI allows the creation of works where there is no human contribution to the creative process. Or, at least, it is not enough so we can sustain that the requirement of originality - mandatory to the protection of these kind of works - is fulfilled.

If we look into the several legal systems, some provide, specifically, for the protection of computer-generated works as in...