Launching a research network in the region
On Friday 23 June 2023, a webinar entitled “Copyright and Legal Basis for Generative Artificial Intelligence Training” was held as the inaugural event of the Knowledge Rights 21 research network for the Western Balkans region. The research network will study and discuss key issues in the field of Intellectual Property in the region.
The webinar brought together prominent experts from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and North Macedonia. The event is part of the national Open Knowledge Day initiative and the national and regional coordination activities carried out by ODIPI under the auspices of Knowledge Rights 21.
At the event, Silvia Bottaro, from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, presented the European perspective on “Copyright and access and re-use of scientific publications and data“, followed by a presentation by researchers on the text and data mining regime in their countries. Prof. Dr. Ivana Kunda, from the Faculty of Law, University of Rijeka, presented the regulation in Croatia, Dr. Maja Bogataj Jančič (ODIPI) presented the current regulation in Slovenia, Prof. Dr. Iza Razija Mešević presented a proposal for regulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Prof. Dr. Neda Zdraveva presented a proposal for regulation in North Macedonia. Prof. Dr. Dušan V. Popović, from the Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade, presented only the general framework of exceptions and limitations for research in Serbia, as there is no activity in their country to adopt appropriate exceptions for text and data mining.
The launch of the research network is a first step towards better cooperation between copyright researchers in the region. A conference and workshop will also be organised in Ljubljana in October to continue presenting the results of the research on text and data mining in the region, and to discuss other copyright topics in the field of research and open science.
ODIPI is organizing ERA KR21 Conference: Barriers and Incentives for Open Science in the Copyright Law that will take place on 2 December, 2024 at Hotel Four Points by Sheraton (Mons) in Ljubljana and also online.
The District Court of Hamburg ruled in the case of Kneschke v. LAION e.V. that LAION did not infringe the copyright of photographer Kneschke, as the use of his photograph was covered by the exception for text and data mining (TDM) for scientific purposes.
“Can copyright bring artificial intelligence to its knees? Which other circumstances may cause that the “making” of generative AI can dramatically change in the (near) future. This short paper presents potential challenges that copyright poses to the training of the machines on large amount of data. Different jurisdictions address these issues differently. In the USA the legality of these activities is tested in several court cases. Do gentlemen’s agreements and pragmatic symbiosis known from the “search engines business model” provide sufficient basis and/or incentive for the business model of “making” generative AI business model as well?