THE INTERSECTION OF AI SYSTEMS AND IPR LAWS IN INDIA – A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The continuous and relentless march of Artificial Intelligence continues to give shape and restructure industries of different sectors across the world and also redefine the boundaries of human intelligence and understanding. India is on the verge to experience a major and massive digital shift and revolution in many areas of industries and profession. The involvement and integration of Artificial Intelligence across different and diverse sectors increases and presence immense opportunities and legal challenges including legal concerns of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The main and fundamental principles of ownership, authorship, inventorship and human creativity are now being challenged and replaced with new digital technologies and Artificial Intelligence which are autonomous and has generative capabilities which then source out to different sources of internet which are already published by different authors and institutions. This legal article revolves around the complex combination and interplay between Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Rights laws of India, keeping in mind the recent digital developments, further elaborating on the present and existing challenge and proposing a more detailed and possible solutions to this dynamic landscape.

The Intellectual Property Rights Frame work in India is governed primarily by the Copyrights Act, 1957, Patents Act 1970 and The Trademarks act 1999, and the Patents Act 1970, are the major and largely anchored in relation f human creation and creativity. There is an absence of a legislation relating to the AI generated contents and outputs that come from different AI sources and other websites, these create a grey zone in the AI space. The tussle and conflicts between AI and IPR has increased as there are no significant legislative changes since the first assessment.  The conflicts have increased in terms of academic scrutiny, deliberations relating to industry and preliminary policy discussions. There is a significant debate surrounding copyright and AI generated content persists. The inducing interpretation and understanding still favours human creative content that comes from the creative mind of the human being, often attributing and favouring ownership to the programmer or the person who provided the first and initial prompts and parameters. The increase sage of AI, and its capability of generating complex, intricate and novel works with minimal to no human intervention, challenges the nation and the legal and judicial systems of India in resolving the conflicts that prevails. However, the landmark legal and judicial pronouncements and precedents remain difficult and non-conclusive, leaving the creators, users and developers and legal practioners like lawyers, advocates and judges of uncertainty regarding the scope of safeguarding and enforcement mechanisms for AI generated artistic, literary and musical artistry.  In the sector of patents, the patentability of inventions that have been delivered and conceived, wholly or in parts by the AI platforms remains a very important point of conflict and contention. The concept of “Inventive step” requirement under the Patents Act, usually and traditionally associated with human creativity and non- obviousness, poses a obstacle for AI driven innovations. Determining and specifying the extent and limitation of the human contribution to the required for patent suitability in AI assisted and generated inventions and creations is a very important and critical challenge to face for the Indian legal and judicial system. There is a very important question that has to be answered, whether or not an AI can be named as in inventor, innovator continues to be debated, with legal precedents and interpretations in other jurisdictions offering various and different perspectives, however there is no definitive guidance within the Indian context and circumstances. While an AI’s role in creation of trademark and analysis is increasingly growing, the challenges point out directly to IPR. The potential for AI generated trademarks that infringe on the existing and create deceptive similarities and necessities careful consideration within the existing trademarks legal and judicial framework.  The use of AI in the trademarks like brand monitoring and enforcement also presents new avenues and complexities. Despite having the lack in the specific legal legislation in the field of IPR, there is a significant growth of awareness within the Indian Intellectual property ecosystem about the requirement to address these issues. Policy makers and the government bodies are actively exploring potential frameworks, legislative precedents and engaging in discussions to formulate a more appropriate approach.

The absence of legal and legislative framework and guidance there are challenges and there presents new complexities in the conflict of AI and IPR related conflicts and complexities. As AI models have become more autonomous and complex and easily accessible, the traditional attribution and contribution of ownership based on human input becomes more increasingly blurred and more difficult. Finding and determining the rightful owner and the author when AI independently generates substantial and concreate creative output requires new and fresh legal framework that works for the present situation and circumstances. The lack of clarity and lucidity can hamper and hinder the investment in AI driven creative innovation and complicate licensing and commercialisation. The determination of liability for IPR infringement that is the bi product of AI systems that generate content and information present a significant legal challenge. The question here is should the liability of the same should lie with the user and the developer or the AI itself be considered a responsible agent? The autonomous nature of most of the AI systems makes it difficult and complicates the attributions and contributions of intent and control, making it necessity to development of new legal framework and principles for assigning responsibility. There is a major usage of various databases, often including the copyrighted or patented content and material, to train AI models raises ambiguous questions relating to fair data use and data ownership and potential derivative work issues. Striking the balance of need for data fuel AI development with the rights of IPR users and holders which requires careful considerations and the exceptions and limitations within IPR laws in India.  The major problem under the ambit of AI and IPR is ethical considerations and the integrity of IP systems. The capacity of  generation of content and materials by the AI systems is biased, deepfakes, and other forms of manipulated media poses critical challenges that intersect and interplay with IPR. The protection of integrity or creative content and material coming from human creativity while mitigating and reducing the potential for misuse and misinformation generated by AI systems, requires a holistic and concentrated approach that integrates ethical considerations into the legal framework.

To have a harmonised future where the conflict between the AI generated content and material and the content coming from human creativity and human mind, there can be a few ways in which this can be mitigated and reduced. Navigating through the intricate landscape requires a concentrated approach, The introduction of legislative framework that needs to work and move towards enacting specific legislative provisions and interpretation that addresses AI generated content that comes within the ambit of Copyright and patents act. This could be inclusive of introduction of “AI generated works” as a different category under the ambit of the IPR laws in India. Clarifying the definition of “Innovative step” in the AI context under the provisions of the Patents Act of India. By establishing clear guidelines, framework and rules relating to the ownership in cases of AI generated content and material but the same should be based on the human input and level of the nature. Establishment of specialised bodies and institutions to regulate the same and resolve the conflicts of AI generation and human generation. There should be clear policies of data ownership, access and usage for AI training and development is essential to balance the needs of AI development with the rights of data creators and owners. Development of specific liability rules for IPR infringement by AI systems is necessary to curb and reduce the conflicts of AI and IPR. This is to reduce the take over of human creativity and authenticity of human creators by the AI systems. The proactive involvement of the Indian judiciary will play a very significant role in the interpretation of legal provisions and precedents which will provide the much-needed clarity through the landmark judgements.

The intersection and interplay of AI and IPR in India is a dynamic and evolving frontier. While the existing and prevailing framework grapples with the unique characteristics of AI generated content and material, the need and requirement for a clear and more intricate framework is much required and needed. By embracing the legislative reforms with open and accepting minds which will foster innovation, clarity, encouraging judicial engagement and actively participating in the international as well as the national forums and institutions. The journey of AI and the interplay of IPR has just begun and India has all the potential to take the opportunity and shape the legal system that encourages creativity and is more inclusive  of technological advancement and will ensure a fair and equitable balance in the age of intelligent machines.