From Music Tracks to Google Maps: Who Owns Computer Generated Works?

Abstract

Increasingly the digital content used in everyday life has little or no human intervention in its creation. Typically, when such content is delivered to consumers it comes with attached claims of copyright. However, depending on the jurisdiction, approaches to ownership of computer-generated works vary from legislated to uncertain. In this paper we look at the various approaches taken by the common law, and the legislative approach take in the United Kingdom.

Keywords: Computer-generated works, copyright, authors and ownership, legislative and common law approaches