In front of the word “artificial intelligence ai” in this illustration, you can see an ornament with a computer and a smartphone. (Photo/Agent)
The debate on intellectual property protection in the field of artificial intelligence has become an inevitable topic across the industry, both domestically and across the industry. This not only reflects the global ongoing technological revolution, but also the intensification of related challenges.
In China, many Chinese government departments, judicial authorities and businesses have held seminars and forums on AI-related IP protection over the past few days, marking World Intellectual Property Day, Saturday this year.
For example, in a recent exclusive interview with China Daily, Shen Changyu, commissioner of China’s National Intellectual Property Office, highlighted the importance of protecting IP rights in the AI field, revealing that he is stepping up efforts to make Chinese companies competitive by issuing guidelines aimed at optimizing AI-related inventive application systems and IP protection.
At the same time, ways to enhance IP protection while widespread application of technology is also being heated.
For example, one of the focuses of this year’s “World Journalist Conference” in Seoul at the end of March was the application of AI in the media. Over 60 participants from over 50 countries exchanged views on the use of technology and expressed many concerns about risks and challenges such as deepfakes, copyright issues, and the illusion of AI.
In fact, domestically and internationally, everyone from market entities to regulators, is looking to balance the development and protection of IP rights in the AI sector.
In fact, China’s cyberspace management already shows some basic requirements, rules, and final lines drawn for the application of AI, including a ban against infringing individual rights and putting national security at risk.
The Civil Code, which took effect in early 2021, makes it clear that individuals and organizations cannot distort, taint, forge someone’s voice and portraits, or misuse them through information technology.
However, as AI tools such as Deepseek have begun to create poems, draft reports, draw pictures, edit videos, and compose music, there have been legitimate challenges regarding copyright ownership of AI-generated content. The problem remains. Does copyright belong to users, technology developers or data providers?
In short, whether an AI-generated image or novelty depends primarily on whether the content is filled with creativity or originality.
In November 2023, Beijing Internet Court identified photographs generated by software stable diffusion from text to images as artwork under copyright protection, for the originality and intellectual input of human creators. It was the first verdict of its kind in China.
The court said the verdict was based on how AI users continually added prompts and repeatedly adjusted the parameters to come up with pictures that reflected his aesthetic choices and personalized judgment.
The court further explained that assigning generated AI content to legal status under certain circumstances in this case is aimed at encouraging people to innovate with new technologies and promoting the development of this emerging industry.
However, when users ask AI to write a speech for the school’s opening ceremony, such generative content is difficult to define as legally protected work. This is because the instructions given to the AI by users are simply simple, common words and phrases, and lack originality.
Faced with the challenges regarding copyright identification of generative AI, China’s advantage lies in the rapidly increasing related conflict. This allowed officials and judges to think deeply about research on this new technology and accelerate research, allowing them to regulate technical applications at early stages, including layout and design.
