Talk I: Copyright Challenge – A Comparative Law View on Authorship

Why It Matters

The outcome will shape copyright eligibility for billions of AI‑generated assets, influencing market dynamics for creative industries worldwide.

Key Takeaways

• Generative AI blurs line between tool and creator
• Beijing court recognized human prompt author as copyright holder
• US Copyright Office still rejects AI‑generated works without human authorship
• Legal debate centers on user contribution versus AI developer liability
• Policy aims to balance innovation incentives with artists’ protection

Summary

The inaugural Yuan Global Talk examined how generative AI challenges traditional copyright doctrines, contrasting recent rulings in China and the United States. Host Yuan Hao introduced the technology’s rapid rise and set the stage for a comparative legal analysis of authorship.

The Beijing Internet Court’s landmark “Li v. Lu” decision held that the human who crafted detailed prompts and adjusted parameters for a Stable Diffusion image qualified as the author, while the U.S. Copyright Office continues to refuse registration for works lacking substantive human authorship. Speakers highlighted AI’s pattern‑based output, its inability to grasp causality, and the thin line between assistance and creation.

Citing Margaret Bowden’s definition of creativity—“new, surprising, valuable”—and the AlphaFold breakthrough, the panel used the centaur metaphor to illustrate AI‑human partnership. Professor Cui explained how the court dissected prompt engineering, seed changes, and negative prompts to determine the user’s original contribution.

These divergent rulings signal a looming global split: jurisdictions may either extend copyright to AI‑assisted works or maintain a human‑only standard, affecting tech firms, artists, and investors. Policymakers must craft balanced frameworks that encourage innovation while protecting creators from displacement.

Original Description

In this inaugural Talk, we invited Profs Guobin Cui and Qian Wang, two renowned copyright law scholars in China, to give us a nuanced account of this case, against the backdrop of how the rapidly evolving copyright law deals with various technological challenges in China. As a comparison, BCLT’s own faculty director Prof. Robert Merges, Co-Director of BAIC, will provide his insight through the lens of US copyright law, as well as the underlying principles of intellectual property.

Need CLE Credit? Watch the program on B-CLE: https://bcle.law.berkeley.edu/showcase?id=31

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