Are Generative AI Models Infringing Imported ‘Articles’ Under Copyright Law?

Abstract

This article is the first to consider the novel question of whether a large artificial intelligence model could be an infringing imported article under the secondary infringement provisions of the Australian Copyright Act and similar secondary infringement schemes. Australian copyright owners have joined the global challenge to the widespread scraping of copyright works in the development and training of AI models. However, unless reproductions or other infringing acts take place in the Australian territory, those primary acts of infringement fall outside the jurisdictional limits of the Australian Copyright Act. This article ponders whether a sufficient nexus might exist through the ’importation’ and sale of AI models into Australia, engaging the Act's secondary infringement provisions.

Keywords: copyright, imported article, artificial intelligence, copyright infringement, intellectual property, generative AI, large language models