The Copyright Office has a clear policy on AI.

An artist who infamously duped an art contest with an AI image is suing the U.S. Copyright Office over its refusal to register the image’s copyright.

In the lawsuit, Jason M. Allen asks a Colorado federal court to reverse the Copyright Office’s decision on his artwork Theatre D’opera Spatialbecause it was an expression of his creativity.

Reuters says the Copyright Office refused to comment on the case while Allen in a statement complains that the office’s decision “put me in a terrible position, with no recourse against others who are blatantly and repeatedly stealing my work.”

  • Flying Squid
    0•2 months ago

    Which company passes the ownership to the person in its contract? Midjourney does not, I just looked:

    By using the Services, You grant to Midjourney, its affiliates, successors, and assigns a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the Content You input into the Services, as well as any Assets produced by You through the Service. This license survives termination of this Agreement by any party, for any reason.

    https://docs.midjourney.com/docs/terms-of-service

    They make it clear that you do not own the copyright on the images you create. Did the artist suing the copyright office use this company?

    • @chemical_cutthroat
      -2•2 months ago

      https://help.midjourney.com/en/articles/8150363-can-i-use-my-images-commercially

      reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the Content You input into the Services, as well as any Assets produced by You through the Service.

      In no way does Midjourney own the image, they only have the ability to “reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute”.

      • Flying Squid
        2•2 months ago

        That has absolutely nothing to do with who owns the copyright. I already quoted to you from their own ToS and linked to it.

        • @chemical_cutthroat
          0•2 months ago

          It has everything to do with what the copyright gives them the right to do, which is: reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute". They cannot claim ownership of the art. If you were to create art that is illegal, they do not own it and are not responsible for that.

          And since you want to quote the TOS, here is the first part which you ignored:

          You own all Assets You create with the Services to the fullest extent possible under applicable law. There are some exceptions:

          Your ownership is subject to any obligations imposed by this Agreement and the rights of any third-parties.

          If you are a company or any employee of a company with more than $1,000,000 USD a year in revenue, you must be subscribed to a “Pro” or “Mega” plan to own Your Assets.

          If you upscale the images of others, these images remain owned by the original creators.

          • Flying Squid
            0•2 months ago

            You said it was based on the contract. The ToS literally says Midjourney owns the copyright. This is pretty cut-and-dried.

            • @chemical_cutthroat
              3•2 months ago

              I’m getting really tired of trying to explain this to you. Their copyright does not give them ownership, it gives them very specific rights. These rights are:

              reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute

              If you create CSM with Midjourney, they are not the owners and it cannot be used to sue them. They don’t want that smoke. They do not want ownership. They make it very clear in the part you skipped over that you own your work, they simply own the right to “reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute”.

              • Flying Squid
                2•2 months ago

                This is literally all about copyright. Hence the copyright office being sued.

      • Flying Squid
        2•2 months ago

        The article makes it perfectly clear that he used Midjourney.

        Midjourney makes it perfectly clear that he does not own the copyright to anything he uses Midjourney for.

        I’m not sure what your point is.