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Copyright

AI and Copyright Disclaimer

Under United States copyright law machine generated content, like Artificial Intelligence (AI) outcomes, do not carry copyright. This was recently upheld with a Federal Court Ruling from Judge Beryl A. Howell in August of 2023 (Civil Action No. 22-1564 Thaler v Perlmutter and US Copyright Office). The ruling states that a work must have a human creator in order to qualify for copyright. In reaction and recognition of this emerging trend, the US Copyright Office is actively studying the issue and plans to issue a report later in 2024 to summarize community input and their findings.

While machine generated content cannot be copyrighted, there remains the potential issue of copyright infringement from using AI/machine generated content that has been produced on copyrighted content. At this time there is a debate on whether a work generated through one of these models would be subject to copyright, or if they will be determined to be a large language model developed under fair use. As an example of this being debated, in September of 2023 a Delaware Judge ruled that a landmark case, Thompson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence, must go to a jury trial, which should begin sometime in 2024.

Policy retrieved from FLVC Copyright Education and Information libguide

Florida Post-Secondary Higher Education Policy on the Use of Copyrighted Works in Education and Research

Florida Institutions of Higher Education require compliance with copyright law and, when appropriate, supports the exercise in good faith of full copyright exemption rights by faculty, staff, and students. Specifically, Florida Institutions of Higher Education:

  • Inform and educate faculty, staff, and students about copyright law, including the limited exclusive rights of copyright holders as set forth in 17 U.S.C. § 106, the application of the four fair use factors in 17 U.S.C. § 107, and the other copyright exceptions
  • Make available tools and resources to faculty, staff, and students for their use in determining copyright status and ownership and whether use of a work in a specific situation would be a fair use and, therefore, not an infringement under copyright law
  • Facilitate use of materials currently licensed by Florida Institutions of Higher Education and provides information on licensing of third-party materials
  • Identify individuals who can counsel faculty, staff, and students regarding application of copyright law. Contact help@flvc.org for more information.

Policy retrieved from FLVC Copyright Education and Information libguide