DOJ urges Supreme Court to reject A.I. copyright claim
The DOJ asked the Supreme Court to deny review of a case challenging the requirement for human authorship in copyright law.Summary
The U.S. Justice Department has urged the Supreme Court to reject Stephen Thaler's petition in *Thaler v. Perlmutter*, which seeks copyright protection for an artwork created entirely by his AI system, the "Creativity Machine." The Copyright Office and lower courts have consistently denied the claim, asserting that U.S. federal law requires human authorship for copyright registration. Thaler argued that the Copyright Office is imposing requirements not supported by the Copyright Act. The DOJ countered that the Copyright Act's structure, including provisions regarding copyright duration (life of the author plus 70 years) and transfer requirements (requiring signatures), clearly implies that an author must be human. While the Copyright Office registers works incorporating AI material when human contributions are sufficient, Thaler specifically disavowed any human creative contribution in this instance. The DOJ argued the lower court correctly resolved the narrow issue presented and that the petition for certiorari should be denied.
(Source：Urgent Matter)