The copyright world is currently trying to assert its control over the new world of generative AI through a number of lawsuits, several of which have been discussed previously on Walled Culture. We now have our first decision in this area, from the regional court in Hamburg. Andres Guadamuz has provided an excellent detailed analysis of a ruling that is important for the German judges’ discussion of how EU copyright law applies to various aspects of generative AI. The case concerns the freely-available dataset from LAION (Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network), a German non-profit.
Case file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A_vnSJUwlrVovhIqA4rKIFaOktR4TvBt/view (German)
“hey you guys used my stuff in a commercial product without asking if I am okay with it” " It was part of that dataset that got created without asking you either but Is free to use for everyone for “research” purposes."
Thank you Hamburg… If the small guy does that it’s theft. If the big guy does it it’s totally fine because it’s from a “research” project.
In other words, apparently it’s okay to break the law if it’s for “research” purposes. Even if you then profit directly from said “research”.
