Short Circuit 370 | Humans Only in the Copyright Office

Bad news for our AI listeners this week. The D.C. Circuit ruled that you cannot be the “author” of a copyrighted work. Only humans get that perk. Dan Knepper of IJ comes by to explain this latest victory in humanity’s war against the machines. Dan also lays out how the court actually kind of dodged some of the trickier issues when it comes to artificial intelligence and copyright law, but notes that those may be coming soon. IJ’s Dan Nelson (no relation) then steps up and takes us on a trek to Wyoming where some hunters engaged in “corner crossing” to get to public land, which an adjoining private landowner did not appreciate. The owner sued the hunters for nine million big ones because they briefly were in private airspace while jumping between parcels. Was that jumping OK? You’ll learn why the Tenth Circuit said it was, and also hear some history about why the West was turned into a checkerboard.

Click here for transcript.

Daniel Nelson and Patrick Jaicomo’s Section 1983 article

Thaler v. Perlmutter

Iron Bar Holdings v. Cape

John Connor’s speech

Recent Episodes

Short Circuit 436 | Retaliatory Justice

If you like the drama of local politics you’ll love this story, told by IJ’s Christian Lansinger, from the Sixth Circuit. A colorful and controversial […]

Listen Now

Short Circuit 435 | 1776 and Judicial Review

Happy America’s 250th! To celebrate, we’re doing things the IJ Way, tying in the events of 1776 to something that emerged a few years later […]

Listen Now