1+1=1 (copyright law/joint authors/screenplay/AI)
1+1=1 (copyright law/joint authors/screenplay/AI)
Li Dongtao
Description: Joint authors need to cooperate to create a work, the term “cooperation” includes descriptions, discussions, explanations and illustrations, etc.
A．A case on account of a screenplay
Without you there is no sun in the sky.[1]
This is a case about “without you”.
The plaintiff and the defendant are screenwriters.
In March 1998, they agreed to write a screenplay based on a historical event. The plaintiff was responsible for doing research and creating an original story based on his materials.
Afterwards, the plaintiff would discuss his ideas with the defendant, who was responsible for putting the screenplay down on paper. LDT They didn’t conclude an agreement for the ownership of the screenplay.
Two months later, they finished the job, and, to the plaintiff’s surprise, the defendant published the screenplay in a film magazine soon afterwards without informing him. The author of the screenplay was identified in the film magazine as the defendant.
The plaintiff sued the defendant for copyright infringement.
The defendant argued that copyright infringement was not established because he had written the screenplay without the plaintiff’s help.
The court ruled that the copyright infringement was established because the plaintiff and the defendant were joint authors and the defendant shouldn’t publish the screenplay without the plaintiff’s permission.
In short, without the plaintiff, there was no work and no copyright.
B. Fishnet, a similitude
In theory, if two persons have created a work jointly, and, their respective contributions have been combined as one and cannot be separately exploited, they shall be deemed joint authors of the work. Thus, the copyright of the work shall belong jointly to both authors.
The term “joint authors” does not just refer to the person who fixes the joint ideas in a physical medium (for example, on a piece of paper), it also includes the person whose ideas were included in the work as a result of cooperation with others. The term “cooperation” includes descriptions, discussions, explanations and illustrations, etc.
Just like the cord used when two fishermen weave a fishnet jointly, after the ideas of the plaintiff and the defendant had been combined, they could not be separated.
C．AI, necessary distinction.
If a natural person and a generative AI system work together, then the result of collaboration between a human and machine may be copyrightable?
In history, a machine-aided work has been not excluded from copyright protection, such as a photo (camera + photographer).
As to an AI system, it seems copyrightable when the creator can prove there is substantial human involvement.
For example, a machine “draws” a picture and a poet writes a poem correspondingly, their contribution can be separated, the poem is copyrightable.
[1] Without you POEM by Edwina Reizer at www.poemhunter.com/i/poem_images/723/without-you-396.jpg
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