Mapping Copyright’s Application to Generative Artificial Intelligence
September 29 | 9:30 - 4:30pm | Hybrid
Registration Requested
Modern copyright law arose when existing modes of regulation for information technology proved inadequate to meet the challenge of transformative information technology. Over the last 200 years, by contrast, the copyright system has met other such challenges – from the rise of electronic mass media to the digital turn in expression, more or less successfully – often by adapting or even fictionalizing existing doctrine. Now, we are asked to consider what adjustments may be required to accommodate Generative Artificial Intelligence, the next new technology to challenge the doctrinal paradigm of copyright.
This program will explain and discuss the specific legal issues presented by generative artificial intelligence under US copyright law.
Agenda
9:00 Registration and Breakfast
9:30 Opening - Michael Carroll, Professor, American University Washington College of Law
9:45-10:30 - A Copyright-Relevant Primer on Generative AI
Michael Carroll
Charles Duan, Assistant Professor, American University Washington College of Law
10:30-10:45 Coffee
10:45-11:15 Locating AI in the Copyright History and Doctrine - Core copyright concepts implicated in thinking about AI and how copyright has dealt with past technological challenges.
Peter Jaszi, Professor Emeritus, American University Washington College of Law
Meredith Jacob, Director, Project on Copyright and Open Licensing, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, American University Washington College of Law
11:15-11:45 US Copyright Office AI initiative
Robert J. Kasunic, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Registration Policy and Practice, US Copyright Office
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00 - 1:45 Doctrinal Mapping of AI - Ingestion - How the scope of copyright protection, the idea/expression distinction, fair use, and other copyright doctrines relate to machine learning and generative AI development.
Moderator/Lead: Michael Carroll
Discussant: Bernt Hugenholtz, Professor Emeritus, University of Amsterdam Faculty of Law
Discussant: Brandon Butler, Director Intellectual Property and Licensing, University of Virginia Library
1:45-2:30 Doctrinal Mapping of AI - Authorship - How existing understandings of authorship, with its underlying model of human creativity, extend to the output of human/AI interactions.
Lead: Carys Craig, Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Discussant: Seth Greenstein, Partner, Constantine Cannon
Discussant: Christophe Geiger, Professor of Law, Luiss Guido Carli University, Rome
2:30-3:15 Doctrinal Mapping of AI - Authorship and Infringement - How the laws and norms about infringement, substantial similarity, independent creation, and fair use will be and should be applied to the products of generative AI tools
Lead: Sy Damle, Partner, Latham & Watkins
Discussant: Kristelia Garcia, Professor, The Georgetown University Law Center
Discussant: Will Cross, Director, Open Knowledge Center & Head of Information Policy, NC State University Libraries
3:30-4:30 Going forward – law, policy, ethics, and norms
Moderator: Meredith Jacob
Panelist: Michael Madison, Professor, University of Pittsburgh, School of Law
Panelist: Matthew Sag, Professor, Emory University Law School
4:30-6:00 Reception and Informal Discussion
Mapping Copyright's Application to Generative AI - AGENDA
Conference Attribution
This meeting and the Jaszi Distinguished Lecture are funded by the Washington College of Law, PIJIP Alumni, Microsoft, and other supporters of the PIJIP Impact Projects.