> Bert P. Krages, Esq., is an attorney who specializes in intellectual property. He is the author of "Handbook for Photographers" and "Heavenly Bodies "and Photography: The Art of Composition"
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Registering works is "pay to register" and has been for some time. Though you can do it in bulk.
Img2img : The AI created art is a derivative work of the source image. By itself it is not copyrightable as there is no human creativity at work.
Txt2img : The text prompt is copyrightable, though that's rather boring. The AI art generated by it is a derivative work of the text prompt and is not copyrightable.
Post processing : Just as DuChamp's L.H.O.O.Q. was copyrightable in its day and the source material for it was not (the work of an old master), so to the human modified image that was original AI (and uncopyrightable) is now a work that can be copyrighted.
Note that these are my interpretation of current copyright law and (to me) seem rather reasonable. See https://www.copyright.gov/comp3/chap300/ch300-copyrightable-... sections 306, and 313.2. Changing this is a change in the law (e.g. need congress to do it) rather than a change in how the copyright office interprets the law.
If you want to read more about, it I recommend Legal Handbook for Photographers ( https://www.amazon.com/Legal-Handbook-Photographers-Rights-L... ) and note that this isn't just a random person writing a book...
> Bert P. Krages, Esq., is an attorney who specializes in intellectual property. He is the author of "Handbook for Photographers" and "Heavenly Bodies "and Photography: The Art of Composition"
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Registering works is "pay to register" and has been for some time. Though you can do it in bulk.
https://www.copyright.gov/registration/visual-arts/
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My takes on your examples:
Img2img : The AI created art is a derivative work of the source image. By itself it is not copyrightable as there is no human creativity at work.
Txt2img : The text prompt is copyrightable, though that's rather boring. The AI art generated by it is a derivative work of the text prompt and is not copyrightable.
Post processing : Just as DuChamp's L.H.O.O.Q. was copyrightable in its day and the source material for it was not (the work of an old master), so to the human modified image that was original AI (and uncopyrightable) is now a work that can be copyrighted.
Note that these are my interpretation of current copyright law and (to me) seem rather reasonable. See https://www.copyright.gov/comp3/chap300/ch300-copyrightable-... sections 306, and 313.2. Changing this is a change in the law (e.g. need congress to do it) rather than a change in how the copyright office interprets the law.
Copyright office funding : https://www.copyright.gov/about/budget/2022/house-budget-tes... aside from managing the capital request to implement the CASE act, they are already pretty much self funded from royalties and fees.
Consider also the painting "Edmond de Belamy" and the surrounding debate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_de_Belamy . While this isn't the final say, you can be sure that lawyers have looked at it - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edmond_de_Belamy.png and note the licensing section and its link to the UK copyright office - https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/artificial-intel... ... and that copyright in the UK is based on sweat of the brow (which was rejected with Feist v. Rural Telephone Service in 1991 in the US to instead apply original works of authorship)