Tech Insights.

This week, the Supreme Court clarified the standard for contributory copyright infringement liability for service providers. In unanimously holding that knowledge alone is insufficient, but rather that liability requires intent shown through either inducement or provision of services tailored to infringement, the Court's decision could have far-reaching effects on the future of the contributory infringement analysis.  In this article, Ciara McHale and Jonathan Downing delve into this decision and what it may mean going forward.

Just last week, Hachette Book Group pulled a novel from distribution after allegations circulated widely online that large portions of the novel were AI-generated. Although Hachette has an AI disclosure policy for authors, and the author disputes having used AI, she states that an editor she hired may have. This scenario is a timely illustration of what's at stake when licensing AI-assisted works, which is the subject of Chieh Tung's third and final installment in the AI-assisted works and copyright series.

Part III of this series details best practices around commercializing AI-assisted assets and understanding the nuances around each stage of the creative chain. What rights and obligations do you have under the governing AI platform terms? What respective issues should licensors and licensees address when negotiating an AI-assisted work? And how should creators and owners think about how employees, works for hire, and service providers contribute to an AI-assisted work, and what implications does that have for the resulting work to be licensed?

Registering AI-assisted works is less complicated than it might seem. But the decisions around timing and disclosure have real consequences for what you can enforce and how.

Part II of Chieh Tung's series on copyright protection for AI-assisted works covers what content creators and owners need to know about registering AI-assisted works in the U.S., including what the Copyright Offices requires in terms of disclosures of AI-assisted works, how that disclosure affects the scope of a copyright claim, and practical guidance around timing and strategy.