Copyright Thickness, Thinness, and a Mannion Test for Images Produced by Generative Artificial Intelligence Applications
Molly Torsen Stech Human authorship has always been, and continues to be, a foundational requirement for copyright protection to subsist in a work. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) challenges this prerequisite but does not overcome it. The output of generative AI is not discernibly different from the output of a human author and therefore benefits from a false sheen of originality. While some argue that prompt engineering fulfills the requirements of originality––the threshold for which is quite low across jurisdictions––prompting still lacks the requisite link between human creativity and the resulting work to receive copyright protections. International copyright treaties and domestic...
BLOG POST: Looking Through the Lens: Can Photography’s Past Support the Copyrightability of AI Art?
Emily Luu *This writing is a blog post. It is not a published IPTF Journal article. The public release of text-to-image models, such as Midjourney and DALL-E, has allowed users to easily create AI-generated images using only a few words.[1] Text-to-image models take user-generated prompts and, within seconds, produce an image matching that description.[2] Although text-to-image programs are a new type of visualization tool that significantly increase accessibility to artistic works for artists and non-artists alike, they have also drawn criticism from traditional artists who view this innovation only as a tool used for perpetuating uncreativity and “copycat” works.[3]As of...
A Case for Crying Over Spilled Milk: Dosage and Bioavailability in the Patent Subject Matter Eligibility of Dietary Supplements
Jacqueline Short Dietary supplement use among Americans has become increasingly prevalent following the COVID-19 pandemic. Manufacturers of dietary supplements depend on patents for success in a competitive market. In order to be patent eligible, supplements cannot be too similar to the natural substances from which they derive. The United States Patent and Trademark Office outlines the markedly different characteristics test, which courts use to determine whether supplements are unique enough to receive patents. Yet the patent cases of two supplements, ChromaDex and Natural Alternatives, reveals significant confusion around the role of dosage and bioavailability of supplements under the markedly different characteristics analysis. This...
How Existing Patent Regulations Encourage Competition in the “Super Shoe” Race
Emma McMillan Since Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile barrier in the mid-1950s, the American public has become increasingly obsessed with achieving the impossible. In 2016, the U.S. Patent Office approved Nike’s ground-breaking and controversial patent on its first of many “super shoes,” the Vaporfly, a shoe utilizing a new lightweight foam and carbon fiber plate designed to maximize energy return and enhance running performance. Since then, dozens of other manufacturers have succeeded in developing their own super shoes. Despite this progress, however, critics contend that the approval of Nike’s Vaporfly patent not only threatens the integrity of running as...