At Zilver Law, we stay at the forefront of emerging legal challenges in AI and intellectual property.

As AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Qwen, DeepSeek become part of everyday creative workflows, the legal question arises: Who owns the rights to AI-generated content?

Copyright and AI: What the Law Says

Under current copyright law in most jurisdictions, only human-created works can be protected. AI systems are not considered authors, and content they generate without substantial human contribution is typically not eligible for copyright protection.

A key precedent: Zarya of the Dawn (USA) — a graphic novel created using Midjourney.
The U.S. Copyright Office granted protection to the text and structure authored by a human, but refused to protect the AI-generated images, due to the lack of meaningful human authorship.

💡 How Can You Protect AI-Generated Content?

While the law evolves, here’s what creators and businesses can do now:

✅ Demonstrate human authorship: save prompts, drafts, edits, and explain your role in shaping the final result
✅ Merge AI-Generated Content with another IP to protect the whole works.

✅ Create, use and comply with contracts and license agreements: define who owns what, especially when AI is used collaboratively or in business contexts
✅ Treat AI tools as co-creators, not autonomous authors: build legal strategies around the human contribution

✅ Register IP rights: AI-generated content (or at least parts of it) can be registered if the project is supported by a lawyer from the beginning.

 Our Expertise

At ZILVER, we assist clients in:

• Copyright Strategy: Advising on registration for AI-human collaborative works.

• Contract Review: Ensuring platforms grant you necessary rights to AI-generated content.

• Dispute Resolution: Leveraging precedents to defend your intellectual property.

• Compliance: Navigating evolving regulations in the EU, U.S., and beyond.

• Contracts: Drafting licensing and assignment agreements

If your business uses AI to create valuable content — legal clarity is key.

Contact us for tailored advice on copyright, IP, and AI law.

ZILVER Law Firm
Intellectual Property | Tech & AI Law | Commercial Legal Solutions