AI Works & UK Copyright - Ownership, Infringement & What We Know So Far

Introduction

As artificial intelligence (‘AI’) continues to develop rapidly and grow in commercial adoption, intellectual property (‘IP’) law is having to keep pace. A central challenge is how to strike the right balance between protecting the rights of creatives and encouraging continued innovation in the AI sector.

UK copyright law was drafted long before modern generative AI models existed, creating uncertainty as to how the current framework applies in practice (particularly in relation to the ownership of AI-generated works and the risk of infringement). Although the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 contains specific provisions on ‘computer-generated works’, and existing text and data mining exceptions may be relevant, their application to AI systems remains to be seen.

This is a fast-moving area. The High Court heard the much-anticipated copyright and trade mark case of Getty Images v Stability AI (with permission to appeal granted). The Supreme Court has considered the patentability of a particular artificial neural network invention (Emotional Perception AI v Comptroller-General of Patents) and whether an AI can be named as a patent inventor (Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents). The UK government has also consulted on potential copyright reforms due to the developments in AI. Internationally, there have been significant and well-publicised US cases (such as Bartz v Anthropic and Kadrey v Meta) and a German case (GEMA v OpenAI).

Against this backdrop, practitioners advising clients who develop or use AI tools should understand where uncertainties remain and how to manage the associated legal and commercial risks. This webinar will provide a practical and up-to-date analysis of AI works and copyright protection in the UK, helping practitioners to advise with greater confidence in this rapidly evolving area.

What You Will Learn

The webinar will cover the following:

• When AI-generated works may attract copyright protection in the UK
• The statutory framework for computer-generated works under the CDPA (including Section 9(3))
• Authorship and ownership issues in relation to AI-generated works
• When AI training and outputs may infringe copyright in the UK (including primary and secondary infringement)
• The relevance and limits of copyright exceptions (permitted acts), including text and data mining
• Key issues arising in recent and ongoing UK litigation (including Getty Images v Stability AI) and the potential direction of UK reform
• Comparisons with recent well-publicised US decisions and a German decision
• Practical risk management strategies for businesses developing or using AI tools

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Tuesday 15th September 2026

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