Chinese court issues world's 1st legally binding verdict on copyright infringement of AI-generated images

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) – In the first effective ruling of its kind globally, a Chinese court ruled in a case of copyright infringement by an artificial intelligence-generated service, providing a judicial answer to the debate over whether content generated by AI service providers infringes on copyright, state media reported on Tuesday.

The Guangzhou Internet Court ruled that an AI company infringed on the plaintiff's "copyright and adaptation rights" to the Ultraman works while providing generative AI services, ordering the defendant to pay 10,000 yuan (about $1,389) in compensation to the plaintiff for the economic loss, local Global Times reported, citing a report published by the 21st Century Business Herald.

The protagonist of this case was the super IP Ultraman.

The plaintiff, according to the report, reckoned that the defendant, without authorization and unlawfully, used the plaintiff's rights to train its model and generate substantially similar images.

Also, the defendant caused "serious" harm to the plaintiff by selling membership and other value-added services to obtain illegal profits, the report added.

The court found that the images generated by the defendant partially or completely copied the original artistic work.

Besides, the judgment specified that since users lack clear awareness of the potential copyright infringement risks to others, especially copyright owners, providers of generative AI services should remind users through service agreements.

The court also ordered AI service providers to establish a complaint-reporting mechanism to assist rights holders in protecting their copyrights.

In a first, in a ruling last November, the Beijing Internet Court ruled that an AI-generated image in an intellectual property dispute was an artwork protected by copyright law.