11 Aug By Kaylee Garcia-Tran: How AI-Generated Content Is Changing the Way Future Attorneys Deal With Intellectual Property

You open TikTok and see a video built around a catchy phrase. By the next day, the phrase is everywhere. Thousands of users have incorporated it into their videos, businesses have printed it on merchandise, and creators are using AI to generate new content inspired by the original post. As this becomes more prevalent in our society, an important question arises: When online content is created, copied, remixed, or generated by AI, who owns it?

AI and social media have completely changed the way people create and share content. It has become increasingly common to have users participate in certain trends and build upon the ideas of others. A user can enter a short prompt and generate an image, song, video, or written work within seconds. Then, that content can be posted online, edited by another user, incorporated into a trend, or used to promote a business. With intellectual property law in mind, this culture is not as simple as reposting someone else’s content.

Can Someone Own a Viral Phrase?

One may assume that the person who first used or popularized the phrase automatically owns it. Copyright law protects original forms of creative expression, but short words, names, slogans, and phrases generally do not receive copyright protection on their own. Creating a popular, catchy phrase does not necessarily give someone the right to prevent others from repeating it. Another possibility is a phrase could function as a trademark when consumers associate it with a business, product, or service. However, trademark law focuses on preventing consumer confusion based on the goods and services one provides in commerce.

This distinction becomes important when a viral phrase moves beyond social media and becomes part of a business. Repeating a phrase in a personal video may raise different considerations than selling merchandise while displaying the phrase. This is why the question “Who said it first?” may not always be the same as “Who has legally protective rights?”

Who Owns AI-Generated Content?

AI makes ownership even more complicated. A person can use their own ideas and someone else’s content to generate new content. Should both users receive the same intellectual property protection?

Copyright law has traditionally focused on human creativity. This creates uncertainty when AI is the one who produces all, if not, most of the work. This makes it difficult to identify which ideas came from AI and the person inputting it. But depending on the AI tool being used to create the content, the ownership may lie with the AI tool or the user that is inputting the data. Various providers have different provisions in their service agreements regarding the output ownership. More guidance can be found here: https://www.copyright.gov/ai/.

As a law student working at an intellectual property firm, I find these questions especially interesting because they demonstrate how technology can develop faster than the law. Future intellectual property attorneys will need to know not only existing legal principles, but also how those principles apply to evolving technology, emerging trends, and how businesses build brands online. For the next generation of intellectual property attorneys, this creates an exciting opportunity to help shape how ownership is understood in an increasingly digital world.

Written by Kaylee Garcia-Tran, Law Clerk at KMD Law.