The music industry is very pleased indeed that the US government’s latest report on intellectual property matters around the world includes a new section on the copyright issues posed by AI. Even if it’s a very short section.
The Recording Industry Association Of America says it “lauds the addition of a new section on intellectual property and artificial intelligence” in the annual IP publication from the US Trade Representative that is snappily named the ‘Special 301 Report’ (because, in case you wondered, Section 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974 provides the mandate for this report).
That AI section of the report, says the RIAA, “reaffirms that the US government supports ‘legal frameworks for AI development that ensure copyrights are respected and supports voluntary licensing regimes for the use of copyrighted works’”.
The USTR publishes two reports each year on IP matters, the ‘Notorious Markets’ report that names and shames digital platforms that facilitate piracy, and the ‘Special 301 Report’, which criticises governments around the world that aren’t doing enough to help US creators and companies protect their IP rights, including copyright.
Because the report informs trade talks between the US and other countries – during which US officials can pressure other governments to do more to combat IP infringement – the music industry has always lobbied to ensure its top piracy gripes are included. In the past that has meant things like file-sharing and stream-ripping.
But more recently the music industry’s lobbyists have been pushing for AI concerns to be included too, as AI companies seek to exploit copyright exceptions in certain countries to allow them to train generative AI models with existing content – including music – without getting permission and buying licences from the relevant copyright owners.
Of course, within the US, President Donald Trump has indicated he considers it unrealistic to expect every AI business to secure licences for every bit of content they include in their training datasets. Meanwhile numerous AI companies are trying to convince American judges that AI training is ‘fair use’ under US copyright law, which would mean no rightsholder permission is required.
Those legal battles are far from over, although – in two early judgements – judges did conclude that AI training was fair use. All of which means it might be slightly hypocritical for US officials to then put pressure on governments in other countries to ensure there are no loopholes or exceptions that AI companies can rely on to avoid paying for training data.
Nevertheless, the latest ‘Special 301 Report’ says, “Stakeholders have expressed views with respect to the use of copyrighted materials in the development of artificial intelligence”.
As quoted by the RIAA, it then adds, “the United States supports the development of legal frameworks for AI development that ensure copyrights are respected, and supports voluntary licensing regimes for the use of copyrighted works”.
The ‘voluntary licensing’ point means that US copyright owners are opposed to statutory licensing being employed in AI. Under a statutory licensing system, AI companies would be able to rely on a blanket licence administered by one or more collecting societies, where they would be obliged to pay a statutory rate in return for being able to make use of all and any copyright protected content.
The idea of statutory licensing for AI has been raised in various places, but most notably India. The USTR’s report references a working paper published by India’s Department For Promotion Of Industry And Internal Trade last December.
That paper, it reports, “has raised deep concerns among stakeholders, including copyright holders and creators, as well as tech industry and AI developers, particularly regarding the recommendation for statutory licences and mandatory extended collective management of rights”. The US, it adds, “will closely follow developments in this area”.
India is one of six countries currently on the USTR’s Priority Watch List, which are the countries where there are many pressing issues around the protection and enforcement of IP rights. The rest of the list is made up of Chile, China, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.
For the first time, the USTR has also added a category above the Priority Watch List for the country that is currently raising the most concerns – an honour bestowed on Vietnam.
Extensive engagement between the US and Vietnam has “failed to resolve long-standing concerns regarding IP protection and enforcement” the report says, with specific concerns including “failure to provide persistent and effective enforcement to combat online piracy” and “failure to provide sufficient enforcement against widespread counterfeiting”.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source completemusicupdate.com ’
