By Philippa Davies 

“New disruptive innovation threatens to deprive creators of hard-earned rights over their works. Livelihoods are at stake!”

This imagined news headline could well apply to the latest technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI).  Machines are being fed volumes of images, text, video and audio from countless sources; some copyright protected, some not. Using someone’s creative content “without consent or compensation” is an illegal act subject to criminal and civil proceedings. Meta, OpenAI and Microsoft have been accused of, or are facing lawsuits for unauthorised use of copyright-protected works to train their AI models.

Can innovation and copyright co-exist?

The short answer is, “Yes, they can!” 

The imagined headline above is not new news. Innovation disruption has happened before, and it will undoubtedly happen again. Before AI, it was downloads and streaming (1990-2000s), photocopying machines, VCRs and tape recorders (1970-80s), radio (1920-30s) and the mechanised piano player (1900s) among many examples. And yet copyright has survived. The Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY) is confident that copyright will continue to survive and even thrive. The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) of which JAMCOPY is a member confirms that, “it is possible to be pro-copyright and pro-AI. Copyright is essential in the digital age.”

Copyright is the most recognised type of Intellectual Property. Many of us have created works eligible for copyright protection, whether poetry, novels, photography, illustrations, song lyrics, textbooks, music “riddims”, dance choreography, films, or theatrical productions. Some earn “a little bread’ by commercialising their creations. At the same time, the general public and other creators are inspired by and hope for easy access and use of the works of others. These are competing interests.

It is copyright that offers and maintains the delicate balance between these competing interests—the interests of content creators to earn from the use of works by the public, and the interests of the same public in accessing and using content.

This need for balance is no different in the age of AI. The September 2024 report of the National AI Task Force acknowledged that the national policy on AI should include discussion on Intellectual Property (IP).  This must include protocols requiring that AI training models respect copyright in their collection and output of content. JAMCOPY looks forward to participating in shaping such protocols.  We bring to the table knowledge of domestic copyright law, as well as international partnerships already balancing copyright and AI in their respective jurisdictions through licensing agreements.

Providing licensing agreements to users of copyright-protected works in educational, government, business and research settings has been JAMCOPY’s role in the Jamaican society since 1998. JAMCOPY currently facilitates legal access to thirty-nine (39) local educational and government institutions, representing 907 (and counting) Jamaican authors and publishers, and thousands more from North, Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, European and Asia-Pacific regions.  

The National AI Task Force also recommended review and, where necessary, reform of existing legal and regulatory frameworks. The aim is to build out a robust AI ecosystem in Jamaica. The current Jamaican Copyright Act, 1993, recognises computer-generated works. Ownership of computer-generated works is granted to the human who arranged for the generation of the work. This principle recognises that AI is a tool, albeit a smart one, but still a tool created by humans, and ultimately subject to human prompts and human-directed uses. 

This aligns with current global legal opinion.  The Jamaican law is yet to be tested for AI worthiness, but JAMCOPY is confident of the legal framework’s strength.  Copyright was built to embrace the tremendous opportunities presented by AI … and any yet-to-be-revealed disruptive innovations.

Philippa Davies is the Legal and Operations Consultant for The Jamaican Copyright Licensing Agency (JAMCOPY)