How to protect your AI generated creations?
In January 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office published a highly anticipated report on the interactions between AI and copyright, answering in particular the question: can creations generated by AI be protected by copyright?
This document is part of a public consultation launched in 2023 and although it concerns American law, its conclusions are likely to influence countries such as France on the issue of protecting creations generated by AI.
🔴 Outputs that cannot be protected by copyright: creations generated solely on the basis of text prompts.
Creations based solely on text prompts cannot be protected by copyright because it is believed that the author does not have sufficient control over the creative process via prompts alone.
🟠 Outputs whose copyright protection is done on a case-by-case basis: the retouching of content generated by AI.
Tools that allow you to modify outputs (ex: for the Midjourney tool, the options Vary region and Remix mode) can demonstrate human control of the creative process and therefore justify copyright protection of the output. This copyright protection will be granted on a case-by-case basis.
🟢 Outputs that can be protected by copyright: creations generated using reference elements.
Creations generated based on reference elements (images, illustrations, illustrations, sketches, videos, etc.) can benefit from copyright protection, provided that the reference content is visible in the output and that the author owns the rights to the reference elements.
➡️ My recommendations to protect you.
The law is under construction on the subject of copyright protection or copyright of creations generated by AI, but some good practices are already needed:
✅ Identify content that may be protected by copyright or copyright and do not transfer rights to non-protectable content.
✅ Maintain evidence of control over the creative process (in any form).
✅ Don't rely solely on keeping prompts to demonstrate control over the creative process.
U.S. Copyright Office Report: Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, January 2025.