Some Common and Civil Thoughts on Computer Generated Works (1).
| Autor | Tarcisio Queiroz Cerqueira |
| Cargo | Advogado. |
"More than iron, more than lead, more than gold I need electricity. I need it more than I need lamb, or pork or lettuce or cucumber. I need it for my dreams."
Night sky and fields of black, A flat cracked surface and a building, She reflects an image in a glass, She does not see, she does not watch."(2)
As long as our concern was only with conventional computer systems, i.e., systems which perform standard input-process-output tasks, it was not a problem to define rightholders of computer generated works, or computer output: unless prevented by contract, the authorized person who uses the system, that is the user, can normally be considered the owner of the generated product, whatever it might be. There is no difficulty in assigning authorship when a writer uses a conventional wordprocessor loaded in a conventional computer to write his/her books.
However, it is different when we consider certain more complex kinds of systems, where computers are used not only as a tool(3) , i.e., to store enormous banks of information, or because they process information incredibly fast, or because they are portable. I have in mind, here, certain sorts of systems where the system is not only a mere tool as it has traditionally been regarded, but is more than a tool, being rather a member of the crew, and perhaps even more than a member, a controller, a supervisor, a decision maker, in certain cases. In these cases, where the system is actually responsible for the work, and assuming it were a copyrightable work, it becomes very dificult to define who is the author, and who owns copyright(4) .
Complex systems are systems such as artificial intelligence systems, including neural networks, when machines generate knowledge; its performance can no longer be defined simply as a standard input-process-output task, and the products generated by those machines may have a minimal involvement from a human being and a massive contribution from the system itself. In these systems questions relating to the ownership and the authorship become a difficult issue, not to mention other related areas of potential contention such as moral rights.
Complex systems are also systems which generate complex outputs, such as audio-visual outputs, which are very difficult to properly protect(5) .
We have to be careful not to confuse ownership of computer generated works with responsibility for computer generated works in accordance with previous specifications. When someone develops a computer program he/she becomes responsible for the performance of that program in accordance with initial/contractual specifications. Computer generated works have to be generated in accordance with technical specifications. This has nothing to do with authorship of computer generated works. Authorship can be transferred.
It is more or less (un)decided that products generated by computers belong to the user(6) , to the programmer(7) , or, at least to someone whose identity could be established by previous contract. This does not mean, however, that the owner of a computer generated output is the one responsible for its integrity, or its perfection in accordance with the specifications of the program. If a computer product is generated wrongly, that is with imperfection or errors caused by programming conceptions, the responsible person is the person, or group of people (or company), who developed the program.
Therefore, if the developer is the one liable in cases of defective software, which have caused injury to a consumer's person or property - or when there are economic losses - he certainly deserves to be considered one of the authors.
It is very easy to attribute copyright of a book which a single writer has produced; it is also not difficult when a group of writers has collaborated in the production of a book.
However, it is really complicated when we have to apportion copyright between a large number of people who have been working concurrently on different stages of a project - in various projects. We may have to face situations where no author can be defined. In some cases there is no particular human being who can be definitely pointed as an author(8) .
Professor Pamela Samuelson(9) states five allocation possibilities, in terms of ownership rights of computer generated works: "... to the computer, to the user, to the author of the generator program, to both jointly, or to no one".
She also comments - which I think is a complicating factor - that when speaking about computer-generated works, the reference is made(10) "... not only to the hardware of the computer, but also to the hierarchy of programs - microcode, operating systems programs, and assisting application software - that work together to generate output".
In cases of computer generated works, both the programmer and the user do their work in the knowledge that their contributions have to work together, with the intention of creating a finished work. From this point of view authorship should be given jointly to the programmer and the user(11) .
Thomas Dreier(12) reports that "... So far, only the United Kingdom has adopted a special provision on computer generated works in its Copyright...
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