U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear AI-generated art copyright case, leaving human-authorship rulings in place
The Facts
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Stephen Thaler’s case about whether AI-generated art can receive copyright protection under U.S. law.
- The Supreme Court’s decision left standing lower-court rulings that upheld the U.S. Copyright Office’s denial of Thaler’s copyright registration request.
- Lower courts and the Copyright Office concluded the AI-generated work at issue was ineligible for copyright protection because it did not have a human creator (i.e., lacked human authorship).
- Thaler is a computer scientist/engineer from St. Charles, Missouri, who sought copyright registration for a visual artwork he said was created by his AI system, DABUS.
- Thaler applied for federal copyright registration in 2018 for the work titled “A Recent Entrance to Paradise.”
- The Supreme Court’s refusal to take the case was issued without a merits ruling on the underlying copyright question.
Context
What exactly did the Supreme Court decide?
The court declined to hear (denied review of) Thaler’s appeal, which means the lower-court decisions upholding the Copyright Office’s denial of registration remain in effect. Reuters Court House News Se… IPWatchdog.com | Pa…
What work was involved in the dispute?
The case involved a visual artwork titled “A Recent Entrance to Paradise,” which Thaler said was generated by his AI system, DABUS, and for which he sought federal copyright registration. Reuters CNA Verge
Why was the copyright registration denied in this case?
The U.S. Copyright Office and the courts concluded the work was not eligible because it lacked “human authorship”/a human creator, which they treated as required for copyright protection in this context. Reuters Verge Court House News Se…
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