Copyright protection in the use of generative artificial intelligence – Trends in Chinese case law

Questions relating to copyright protection in the use of generative artificial intelligence have arrived in Chinese practice, case law and literature. Against the background of the current Chinese copyright law, our partner Dr. Jörg-Michael Scheil presents two recent judgements of the Beijing Internet Court in a new article that will appear in the upcoming issue of the IP journal “Mitteilungen der Deutschen Patentanwälte”, which essentially deal with copyright protection when using image-generating AI on the one hand and with the protection of personality rights when using a voice generator on the other.

The Beijing Internet Court is emerging as an important authority in Chinese jurisprudence on copyright and related issues in the use of generative AI. In a recent decision, the court confirmed that an AI system cannot be the author of a work under Chinese law, as copyright can only be held by an author who is a natural person, a legal person or an association without legal personality. However, an AI user can be considered an author if the relevant requirements are met.

The more specific the user's specifications are (e.g. by entering specific descriptions of the image elements and the overall composition of the image when using image-generating AI), the more the work shows the original expression of its author's ideas and can therefore be protected as a work.

In another decision, the court found that a voice synthesised with the help of artificial intelligence on the basis of real sound recordings of a well-known voice actress constitutes an infringement of the voice actress's right of personality when using an AI voice generator. The voice generated by the AI is identifiable and therefore infringing if the general public or relevant public associates it with the natural person due to its timbre, intonation and pronunciation style. The Chinese Civil Code contains a separate provision according to which the relevant provisions on the protection of the right to one's own likeness are applied accordingly to the protection of a natural person's voice.