Press Publishers’ Right and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

This Chapter examines the application of the press publishers’ related right to AI-based news production. It analyses the conditions under which AI-generated news content can be protected by the related right and the risk that infringement of the related right poses to AI-based news production. The Chapter concludes that there is no fundamental obstacle for protecting AI-generated news content but certain business models and extensive automatization of editorial activities may fail to meet certain key conditions of protection. Avoiding infringement of others’ related right may be challenging due to the low threshold for infringement and ubiquity of press publications but approaches for infringement assessment and application of copyright exceptions are identified that alleviate infringement risks in situations where the objectives of the right are not threatened. Overall, human oversight and involvement is required, as in many situations conditions of protection and copyright exceptions are difficult to meet with AI alone.

Keywords: press publishers’ right, copyright and related rights, artificial intelligence, news industry, DSM Directive, InfoSoc Directive