Lawsuit Over 'Closely Resembling' AI-Generated Model Images: Will Copyright Be Recognized?
一家販售生成式AI圖像的公司Sai社，因發現其人像圖片遭他人未經授權使用，提告要求賠償但遭拒。本案爭點將聚焦於「AI生成的圖像是否享有著作權」，Sai社主張其圖片雖由AI生成，但後續經過手動修正與二次加工，具有人類創作成分。
WISECODE Take
Many business owners mistakenly believe that images generated by AI automatically lose all legal protection and can be copied freely by anyone. The lawsuit filed by Sai, an Osaka-based company, over the unauthorized use of 240 of its AI-generated model images will serve as a landmark case. The core issue is whether copyright protection can be granted to its process, where AI-generated drafts (sold for 1,000 to 25,000 yen) undergo manual retouching and secondary AI processing. For businesses using unedited AI images, this case has little direct impact. However, if your business model relies on licensing digital assets, Wisdom Code recommends establishing trade secret management systems to protect your core workflow through technology and contracts. To navigate these issues, business owners should take two steps. First, document prompt histories and manual modification steps to prove human creative input. Second, clearly define ownership and warranty clauses for AI assets in commercial contracts. Whether an AI image is protected ultimately depends not on the tool itself, but on how much distinct human control is left in the final output.
Original sources
Compiled automatically by WISECODE IP Radar. Summaries are short source excerpts; commentary is AI-generated. See the source links for full text.
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