47
Training Generative AI Models on Copyrighted Works Is Fair Use - Change My Mind
(mastodon.lawprofs.org)
this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
47 points (66.7% liked)
Technology
59390 readers
2546 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
theft rape and murder are criminal matters. copyright is civil, and, yes, the courts can adjudicate every individual case.
It's...a civil crime. Not sure what your point is.
Just like theft, rape and murder...
except that sometimes those are statutory. fair use claims cannot be statutory.
no such thing as a civil crime. you are thinking of a tort.
please cite that for me, if you have 3 seconds.
Sure, how many sources would you like?
https://www.justice.gov/archives/jm/criminal-resource-manual-1847-criminal-copyright-infringement-17-usc-506a-and-18-usc-2319
https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1320&context=wmborj
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_copyright_law_in_the_United_States
https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3622&context=mlr
https://www.lib.purdue.edu/uco/CopyrightBasics/penalties.html
https://www.bu.edu/law/journals-archive/scitech/volume112/andrewsnoteweb.pdf
I have to admit, I did not realize that bare copyright infringement could be criminal, but it also requires criminal intent, so any defense lawyer would argue there was a fair use intent, and even if the civil matter were decided against the defendant, surely the criminal matter would be dropped.
The prosecuting lawyer would argue the intent was in fact criminal and not fair use.
You can't just state "I had a fair use intent", you state your intent (e.g. selling an AI model that creates content for financial gain) and the court determines if that intent was criminal or fair use. And considering criminal copyright law is intended to prevent others from financially profiting from your work, this can be construed as criminal intent. So I would not be so sure that the criminal matter would be dropped so easily.
Of course in this specific case, there's a bit of a grey area, so the first case would not have criminal intent. But if ruled against the AI companies, subsequent cases could argue criminal intent as the AI companies should know by then that what they're doing isn't allowed.
surely you see the difference between a crime and a tort, now.
so where do these say my use is not fair use?
Moving the goal posts again, I see.
fair use is where we started
Here's the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
Criminal copyright laws prohibit the unacknowledged use of another's intellectual property for the purpose of financial gain. Violation of these laws can lead to fines and jail time. Criminal copyright laws have been a part of U. S. laws since 1897, which added a misdemeanor penalty for unlawful performances if "willful and for profit".
^to^ ^opt^ ^out^^,^ ^pm^ ^me^ ^'optout'.^ ^article^ ^|^ ^about^