Global laws governing intellectual property rights for AI-generated works

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) generates works in fields such as literature, arts, and inventions. This development has driven growth in patent applications involving AI-generated inventions and intensified legal uncertainty over the scope of copyright protection for AI-generated works. As a result, intellectual property (IP) offices and courts are constantly facing new challenges in assessing the legal status of such outputs. This article examines recent legal cases on intellectual property protection for AI-generated and AI-assisted works across major jurisdictions, with reference to relevant laws, policies, and regulations in both copyright and patent law. Courts differ in their reasoning, which highlights the need for greater harmonization, although there is broad consensus that purely autonomous AI-generated works and inventions cannot obtain IP protection. In patent law, AI may contribute to technical and functional improvements, but inventorship remains limited to natural persons. This article argues that meaningful human authorship and inventorship remain prerequisites for IP protection despite the growing role of AI. It also examines the originality of works involving AI and discusses the intersection of copyright and patent law in AI-generated works, with an emphasis on the role of humans, the need for a minimum level of legal harmonization worldwide, ownership, risk of monopolization, liability, and transparency.