Author: Editor VCD

AI or Artificial Intelligence is artificial intelligence, this technology specializes in simulating human thoughts and knowledge acquisition processes for machines, especially computers and application software. With the remarkable development of AI in the past few years, it can be seen that AI is gradually taking over, affecting every corner of human occupations in general, especially in related fields to design. Related to this issue, a recently discussed question is whether using illustrations drawn by AI for commercial purposes is protected by copyright.

1. General concepts of AI and copyright

AI is the simulation of intelligent human processes using machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine vision. In the book “Artificial Intelligence A Modern Approach”, the authors analyzed 4 characteristic elements of AI, which are: (i) Thinking humanly; (ii) Thinking rationally; (iii) Acting humanly; Acting rationally. AI systems work by ingesting large amounts of labeled training data and, through a process of deep learning, analyzing the data to find correlations and patterns. Use these patterns to make predictions about future states. Simply put, AI is a product created by humans, intended to support and answer human questions.

Under Clause 2, Article 4 of the current Intellectual Property Law: “Copyright is the right of organizations and individuals to works they create or own.” Illustrations for commercial purposes are defined as works of applied art – one of the types protected by copyright according to Point g, Clause 1, Article 14 of the current Intellectual Property Law. According to Clause 8, Article 6 of the Intellectual Property Law: “A work of fine art applies to a work expressed by lines, colors, shapes, and layouts with useful features, which can be attached to a useful object. Useful, produced manually or industrially… Works of applied art are expressed in the form of artistic product designs that cannot be created easily by people with average knowledge in the field. respective area and does not include the external appearance of the product that is required to perform the product’s function.

2. Conditions for works to be protected by copyright

Since its recognition, the purpose of copyright has been to protect the author’s rights and interests toward his “brainchild”. In the spirit of the Bern Convention – the oldest international copyright convention, there is a list without limitation of “literary and artistic works” regardless of form and method of expression. Based on the Berne Convention, Vietnam also stipulates in Clause 7, Article 4 of the Vietnam Intellectual Property Law the concept of “work” as a “creative product in the fields of literature, art, and science expressed in by any means or form”.

First of all, the work must be expressed in a certain form. The law recognizes that copyright is only established when the work is created and expressed in a certain material form such as audio recording, video recording, rewriting, reading, etc. Therefore, if a creative result is only an idea in the author’s mind and has not been expressed externally in a material form, it cannot be considered a work protected by copyright.

Next is that the work must be the result of spiritual creative activity. To be protected by copyright, a work must be based on the process of thinking, learning, creating, and reflecting the thoughts and feelings of the creator. In other words, the work must be a creative product with the author’s content and spirit.

And finally, the work must be original. This requires that the work be independently and directly created by the author without being copied from another subject. Originality does not require the work to have high content value or unique artistic quality, but it does require creating the author’s mark through the content or form of expression of the work.

3. Related legal issues

3.1. Are illustrations drawn by AI for commercial purposes protected by copyright?

Commercial purpose is behavior intended to generate economic or other benefits. Today, AI can produce literary and artistic works that truly surprise and inspire us.

A typical example is: On October 3, famous manhwa (Korean comic) artist Kim Jung Gi – who is known for his style of drawing comics with a brush and the ability to improvise from memory without needing to sketch – passed away at the age of 47. Painters and graphic artists around the world mourned and at the same time honored him as a great source of creative inspiration in the community. Just a few days later, a French game designer used Jung Gi’s works as input for an AI model. He quickly shared his entire project via Twitter account @5you, meaning anyone can use this AI to turn their ideas into works with drawings identical to Jung Gi in just a few clicks. click.

According to the law on copyright protection conditions, a work must meet the requirements of creativity, or bear the mark of its author. First, to create a work, humans and AI both need material sources. Specifically: for humans, this source of material is the vocabulary, social culture, themes, chords in music, and human knowledge; As for AI, it is a data warehouse that technologists enter into information storage. Second, the work will need expression tools, such as language, sound, images, colors,… and is often associated with the materials that carry it, such as fabric, drawing paper, and sound discs. ; or sound waves, electromagnetic waves, etc. The difference is that humans are chosen to convey the work, while AI will be performed by computers. Third, the work will bear the personal imprint of the subject who created it. Personal impressions can be the author’s own emotions, thoughts, feelings, analysis, and opinions to make the work unique and original. With AI, based on the data warehouse, the programmer puts in parameters and algorithms and from there the AI can synthesize and produce the result as a work.

Therefore, in essence, it can be seen that works created by AI are similar to works created by humans. Therefore, works created by humans or created by AI can meet the conditions for the protection of work. If we rely on published AI products, we see that these works also bring content and artistic value to humanity.

3.2. In case an illustration drawn by AI for commercial purposes is protected by copyright, who is the copyright owner?

Currently, there are still many opinions regarding the copyright owner of illustrations drawn by AI because currently, Vietnamese law has not yet regulated this issue. Therefore, currently, there are three different views as follows:

• The first view is that AI is considered the owner for the following reasons:

According to this perspective, with just a few mouse clicks, AI can automatically synthesize information from many different sources, and then create an illustration suitable for the user, rather than relying on intelligence or knowledge of user consciousness.

Furthermore, according to Clause 1, Article 13 of the Consolidated Document of the Intellectual Property Law, it is stipulated: “Organizations and individuals whose works are protected by copyright include those who directly create the works…” Therefore, AI is considered the copyright owner of the works they create.

• The second view is that AI is not the owner for the following reasons:

First, the AI provides illustrations after the user places an order – it cannot proactively create the work.

Next, between users and these platforms, a civil transaction is established (whether the user spends money or uses it for free) whereby the user is given ownership of the resources available on the system AI data system. Users here have the right to request AI to publish any work of the user. According to Clause 2, Article 39 of the Consolidation Document of the Intellectual Property Law: “Organizations and individuals that enter into contracts with authors who create works are the owners of the rights specified in Article 20 and Clause 3, Article 19 of this Law this law”. Therefore, people who use AI to create illustrations can be recognized as copyright owners.

• The third view is that both the AI and the user are identified as co-owners of the copyright in the work created by the AI. If AI is considered the author who creates the illustration, then by being granted permission to use AI’s available functions, the user is the party that hired the AI to create the work. Here, AI will have moral rights, including the right to name the work, be the author’s name when the work is published, and protect the integrity of the work created by AI itself; and users have property rights such as the right to perform the work in public, copy the work, distribute and rent the work.

Answering the question of copyright ownership of AI-generated content is not simple and needs to be considered carefully. Does creative content produced by machines need intellectual property laws and international conventions? Because AI does not have an independent personality and does not have the status of “author” as in the standards of copyright law. Designers, developers, and users of AI tools are the copyright owners of AI-generated content. However, the legal nature of AI works is currently unclear.

Above is the article: “Is using illustrations drawn by AI for commercial purposes protected by copyright?”. Hope this article will help you.

The Intellectual Property Law stipulates that the copyright owner is the heir. Therefore, can the heir deny his or her inheritance rights? Please read VCD’s article for more detailed information.

1. Inheritance of copyright

Copyright is the right of organizations and individuals to works they create or own. Copyright includes personal rights and property rights, some of which can be inherited according to the provisions of civil law.

An individual’s assets can be objects, money, valuable papers, and property rights, with property rights included in copyright. Therefore, when the individual who owns the copyright dies and leaves his or her assets to his or her heirs, the copyright will naturally become an inheritance.

Article 40 of the Intellectual Property Law has regulations on copyright owners being heirs, specifically:

“Organizations and individuals that inherit copyright rights according to the provisions of the law on inheritance are the owners of the rights specified in Article 20 and Clause 3, Article 19 of this Law.”

Accordingly, the person who inherits according to the will or law will become the owner of these inheritances. However, the heir does not inherit all copyright but is only the owner of the rights to publish the work and the property rights in the copyright.

2. Refuse to inherit the work

On that basis, Article 40 of the Intellectual Property Law stipulates that individuals can inherit copyright, but only certain rights. Regarding moral rights, individuals can only inherit the right to publish the work or allow others to publish the work. Other personal rights cannot be inherited because these rights are attached to each individual, usually name, reputation, honor, dignity… only that individual can exercise. As for property rights, they are fully inherited according to the provisions of law like the author or original copyright owner of the work, specifically the following rights:

• Making derivative works;

• Performing works in public;

• Copying works;

• Distributing or importing originals or copies of works;

• Communicate works to the public by wire, wireless, electronic information networks, or any other technical means;

• Rent originals or copies of cinematographic works and computer programs.

Refusal to receive inheritance is carried out according to the provisions of the Civil Code 2015. Accordingly, the heir has the right to refuse to receive the inheritance. The refusal to receive the inheritance must be made in writing and must be expressed before the time of inheritance division specified in Article 620 of the Civil Code as follows.

“1. The heir has the right to refuse to receive the inheritance, except in cases where the refusal is to avoid performing his or her property obligations to others.

2. Refusal to accept the inheritance must be made in writing and sent to the estate manager, other heirs, and the person assigned to divide the estate for information.

3. Refusal to accept the inheritance must be expressed before the time of division of the inheritance.”

Meanwhile, individuals have the right to refuse to accept inheritance as copyright and must comply with the conditions prescribed by the Civil Code. In case the heir refuses to accept the inheritance and the work is still within the protection period, the work will belong to the State according to the provisions of Intellectual Property Law.

Scanning is one of the popular ways that users scan hard-copy documents to save them as image files on computers and phones. From a legal perspective, are document scanning activities a form of copying works? Please read “Is scanning considered a form of copying works?” VCD’s article to learn more.

1. Is scanning considered copying a work?

Scanning is the process of converting data on paper, documents, and images on paper into data, images, and files stored on computers or phones through a scanner, printer with a scanning feature, or via an application. Use scanning on your smartphone.

According to the provisions of Clauses 4 and 5, Article 3 of Decree No. 17/2023/ND-CP, originals and copies of works are defined as follows:

“4. The original of a work is the copy that exists in material form on which the creation of the work was first shaped.

5. A copy of a work is a direct or indirect copy of all or part of the work by any means or form.”

At the same time, Clause 10, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law clearly states that copying is the creation of one or more copies of a work or audio or video recording by any means or form, including making copies in electronic form.

From the above regulations, we can see that scanning is essentially creating a copy of the original work in electronic form, so this is the act of copying the work.

2. Does scanning a work require permission from the author?

The right to copy a work is one of the property rights that the author, copyright owner exclusively exercises or allows others to exercise as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 20 of the Intellectual Property Law.

Every organization and individual, when exploiting and using one, some or all of personal rights and property rights, must ask for permission and pay royalties, remunerations, and other material benefits to the right owner or author. The act of copying a work without the permission of the author or copyright owner is a violation of copyright.

However, some exceptional cases allow the copying of works without permission, payment of royalties, or remuneration to the author as stipulated in Points a and dd, Clause 1, Article 25 of the Intellectual Property Law, including:

• Self-copy a copy for personal scientific research and teaching purposes;

• Copy the work to store in the library for research purposes.

Therefore, scanning is one of the forms of copying works, and depending on the purpose of copying, organizations, and individuals must ask for permission, pay royalties, and remuneration to the author or not need to. However, it is necessary to respect the author and copyright when copying works. When using, you must clearly state the author’s information and source from the original work.

Every day, we come into contact with many documents such as decisions of state agencies such as decisions to raise wages, decisions to handle labor laws, meeting notices, meeting invitations… Based on the content and form of those documents, we can classify them as administrative documents. Therefore, to find out whether administrative documents are one of the types protected by copyright, please read “Does copyright protect administrative documents?” VCD’s article.

1. What are administrative documents?

Legal documents are issued by competent entities according to the order, procedures, and forms prescribed by law, have the content of the will of the state, and are mandatory and guaranteed by law. state power. Legal documents include three groups of documents: legal documents, legal application documents, and administrative documents. Each group in the legal documents system also has some specific features in terms of content, nature, and role in state management.

Administrative documents can be of many types, usually divided into the following categories:

• Documents are often used to convey certain contents and requests from superiors to the bottom or express individual or collective opinions and aspirations to agencies and people with resolution authority.

• The document carries information about State regulations, concretizes the implementation of legal documents, and resolves specific cases in the management stage.

• Documents containing state administrative regulations. Administrative documents have many different roles, which can be to notify or convey information from one organization, individual, or state agency to one or more other organizations or individuals.

• Administrative documents can also be used to concretize legal documents and solve specific tasks in the process of managing and operating an agency or organization.

2. Are administrative documents protected by copyright?

According to Article 15 of the Intellectual Property Law, administrative documents are one of the subjects that are not protected by copyright, specifically:

“Article 15. Subjects not covered by copyright protection

1. Pure news reporting.

2. Legal documents, administrative documents, other documents in the judicial field, and official translations of those documents.

3. Processes, systems, operating methods, concepts, principles, data.”

Each subject in this group will be specified in relevant documents for easy application. One of them is administrative documents detailed in Clause 2, Article 8 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP. Accordingly, this administrative document includes documents of state agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, social organizations – occupations, and units of the people’s armed forces.

This can be understood because administrative documents contain general rules of conduct, are mandatory, and are applied in powerful organizations and some subjects that violate administrative law… Therefore, administrative documents will not be subject to copyright protection.

This is the article “Does copyright protect administrative documents?”. We hope this article is useful to you.

Copying a work without the permission of the author or copyright owner is considered an act of copyright infringement. Accordingly, what is copying, and in what cases is How can work be copied without violating copyright?

1. What is copying?

According to the provisions of Clause 10, Article 4 of the Intellectual Property Law, Copying is the creation of one or more copies of a work or audio or video recording by any means or form, including creating copies in electronic form.

For unpublished works, the copyright owner has the exclusive right to make or allow others to make copies of the work. In this case, only the copyright owner or a person authorized by the copyright owner may copy the work.

For published works, other organizations and individuals who want to copy them must ask permission and pay royalties, remunerations, and other material benefits to the copyright owner.

2. In case of copying a work, it does not violate copyright

Although copying works is one of the property rights, when exploiting and using, organizations and individuals must ask for permission and pay royalties, remunerations, and other material benefits to the copyright owner. fake.

However, the law still stipulates several exceptions in Article 25 of the Intellectual Property Law for copying published works without permission, without having to pay royalties or remuneration, including:

• Copy a copy yourself for personal scientific research and teaching purposes.

• Copy the work to store in the library for research purposes

In addition, Article 25 of Decree 17/2023/ND-CP also guides the reasonable copying of a work using copying equipment as follows:

“Article 25. Reasonable copying of part of the work using copying equipment

1. Reasonably copy part of the work using copying equipment for scientific research, personal study, and not for commercial purposes specified in Points b and e, Clause 1, Article 25 of the Intellectual Property Law Intellectual property is the act of reasonably copying no more than one copy of a portion of a work.

2. Copying equipment specified in Points a, b, and e, Clause 1, Article 25 of the Intellectual Property Law is equipment with a copying function with all or part of related components automated based on with or without payment for service by anyone not affiliated with the entity that owns, possesses, or commercially exploits the equipment.

3. For works expressed in written form, reasonable copying specified in Clause 1 of this Article is copying by photocopying, photography, or other similar methods with a maximum of not more than 10% total number of pages or total storage units (bytes), total number of words of the edition, length of the edition’s content for works provided as electronic editions without page division.

Reasonable acts of copying using copying equipment specified in this Clause must be independent acts of each organization or individual performing them, and if there is repetition, it is individual cases that are not related to each other. on the same work.

4. Organizations and individuals that copy works expressed in written form with a percentage greater than the level specified in Clause 3 of this Article must obtain permission from the copyright owner and pay royalties. , other material benefits (if any) to the copyright owner.”

Copying a work without the permission of the author, or copyright owner or not falling into the above cases is an act of copyright infringement as prescribed in Clause 6, Article 28 of the Intellectual Property Law.

Above is the article “How can work be copied without violating copyright?“. We hope this article is useful to you.