Topic: Can Ai have Intellectual Property Rights on its creation
Introduction
The director general of WIPO held six sessions till now to discuss intellectual property rights. Different panel experts had debated on the problems surrounding around the AI-generated works such as inventorship, authorship, and ownership of works.
The WIPO defined AI as a discipline of computer science that is aimed at developing machines and systems that can carry out tasks considered to require human intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is a capacity of the computer or robot to work with the help of human intervention because they need discretionary power, which they lack .even though AI can match human in specific tasks.
Intellectual property rights
It plays an important role in determining ownership and protection in context of AI.
As of now, sole the AI generated works cannot have the authorship. Therefore,AI- associated or AI-generated works created with humans as co-author should exist because many courts have ruled that IP rights exists only for humans, as usually (1) they can only employ their intellect, labor and skills into creation out of volition or free will and (2) the author is a person who translates an idea into a fixed, tangible expression entitled to Copyright protection.
Copyright and AI
As of now, AI-generated works are governed by the Indian copyright act 1957 ,Under this act,ownership or authorship of AI-generated work typically rests with its human creator, assuming they have made essential contribution to the work .Sec 2(vi) of the copyright act of 1957 defines the author.
Delhi High Court in Nethu Singh vs. Rajiv Saumitra and ors. court was of the opinion that in order for the copyright to belong to the employer, the defendants (the employer therein) had to prove, through any terms and conditions, that the literary work was also a part of the duties and obligations of the plaintiff (the employee therein) in her capacity as an employee. Simply explained, when this rule and Section 2(d)(vi) are read together.
Patent rights and AI
Patents are a legal right that is generated to inventors to protect their works by excluding others from making, using, and importing his invention for a definite period of time.According to 3(k) of Indian Patent Act, talks about subject matter exclusion in AI-invention.
The protection of inventions relating to AI is another facet of ownership. Novel, non-obvious, and industrially useful inventions may be patented under Indian patent law, as governed by the Patents Act, 1970. But it can be difficult to get a patent for AI technologies since the law demands a crystal-clear illustration of human intelligence and creative steps. The patenting procedure can become more challenging when it comes to proving human brilliance because AI has the innate potential to produce solutions without direct human involvement.
Challenges and possible solutions
The current issue of AI as an inventor cannot be resolved by changing specific definitions or applying an inclusive meaning to phrases like “inventors,” “individuals,” “inventions,” etc., as in the copyright cases. This goal has been attempted to be fulfilled in a variety of ways by various stakeholders.
The patent legislation must first be amended to include the term “human-inventors” so that AI can be credited as a co-inventor. Second, to clarify language in the AI statutes so that courts can correctly interpret them
Reference:-
¹ Sec2(vi)-in relation to any literary, dramatic , musical or artistic work which is computer-generated ,the person who causes the work to be created.
² 2016 SCC Online Del.
Author: potnuri bala nirguna naga sathwik, a Student of Sastra university