Thaler v. Perlmutter II: The Appeal
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia Weighs In
Well, well, well… you knew it was not going away. Like a Marvel film, you just knew the first one would not be the end of it. The multitudinous sequels continue ad nauseam.
In 2023, I wrote to you about the case of Thaler v. Perlmutter. The very short summary is that this case was initiated by Stephen Thaler, who is a computer scientist and inventor and an advocate for obtaining legal standing for artificial intelligence. The origin of the litigation is that Mr. Thaler used generative artificial intelligence to create an image, and then attempted to copyright that image. In the initial copyright application, Mr. Thaler listed the AI - which he dubs The Creativity Machine” as the author.
I encourage you to read the prior post for context before you continue:
Having that context, let us resume.
The plaintiff has lost this argument at every procedural turn since the beginning:
the Copyright Office denied the initial copyright application; that decision was appealed to the Copyright Review Board (“CRB”);
the CRB denies the appeal was denied; then a motion for reconsideration is filed; and
the CRB denies the request for reconsideration; followed up an appeal to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; then
the US District Court grants the defendant’s for motion for summary judgment motion1; and of course now,
the District Court’s decision is appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
What follows is an analysis of the Circuit Court’s decision, along with some absolute gems from the Circuit Court’s opinion…