Creations of artificial intelligence: In search of the legal protection regime

Abstract

Pictures, texts, music, sound recordings autonomously generated by artificial intelligence systems have already become part of the global market for goods and services. Unlike works and objects of related rights, AI-generated objects fall into the public domain from the moment of their appearance because there is no legal regime for their protection. Whether this status should be maintained in the future is one of the most difficult questions. In 2020, the European Parliament concluded that it is necessary to introduce legal protection for such objects but it has not yet been determined how this should be done. There are various scientific arguments in favour of such protection, which, however, raise reasonable doubts due to the fact that they are not confirmed by practice. Many proposals have been made regarding the legal regime for the protection of objects generated by AI without human participation, which are also quite controversial. This article examines the rationale for the legal protection of autonomous computer creations and possible concepts of their legal protection. Objecting to the protection of computer creations by copyright and related rights, this article justifies that, if the need for their legal protection is proven, it requires the development of a special legal regime.