Tag: Copyright

AI Law

US Judge rules against copyright protection for AI-generated art

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A US Judge has ruled that art produced using artificial intelligence is not eligible for copyright protection, with the lack of “human involvement” being central to the issue. Over the past few years there has been a monumental increase in the quantity of AI-generated art, alongside the rise in the popularity of generative platforms such as OpenAI Inc., Midjourney, and others. As a result, there has been a similar increase in applications being made for copyright protection and it is evident that until recently the US Copyright Office were not entirely sure how to respond to such applications.

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Artist ‘disgusted’ by appearance of her watercolour in ‘Broadchurch’ episode

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An artist whose painting was featured in an episode of ‘Broadchurch’ is demanding £10,000 in compensation from the show’s producers.

Angela Hewitt from the Isle of Wight feels her “work has been abused” by Kudos, the makers of the ITV crime drama. Kudos did not seek Hewitt’s permission to feature her £125 watercolour of a cockerel as part of the set in a scene from the third series. The artwork appears onscreen for five seconds hanging on the wall in the home of rape suspect, Ed Burnett, played by Sir Lenny Henry. Although Burnett was eventually found not guilty, Hewitt believes the appearance of her work could damage her reputation as it has become “associated with a show about rape”.  Continue reading →

McDonald’s slapped with lawsuit by New York graffiti artist

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McDonald’s is being sued by the estate of late graffiti artist Dashiell ‘Dash’ Snow for copyright infringement in the latest legal battle over street art.

Lawyers for ‘Secret Snow’, as the artist was also known, allege that the restaurant mega-chain infringed his copyright when it used an image from Snow’s work to decorate the interior of its fast-food outlets. The complaint was filed in the United States Central District Court of California on 3 October 2016.  Continue reading →

Art for art’s sake, Money for God’s sake

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Author: Tom Broadhurst

Last century I heard Paul Goldstein’s then provocative view – that the Internet and digital revolution would be the death of copyright.  Others have said similar things but this decease of copyright has not happened – copyright still robustly thrives in the digital arena and is vital in the visual arts. In 2011 an estimated £70M of licensing revenue went to writers and artists (see p. 5 of the report ‘An economic analysis of copyright‘). Continue reading →