Copyright in
the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Streaming:
Challenges
of Authorship, Ownership, and Enforcement
Dhruv S. Amin
Unitedworld School of Law, Karnavati
University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat
Abstract
The fusion of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) and Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming services has challenged
traditional copyright doctrines. This paper explores the two-fold challenge
presented by AI-generated works and the rise of Over-The-Top (OTT) streaming platforms
to the existing legal framework, focusing primarily on India's Copyright Act,
1957 and overseas developments from the United States, the European Union and
the United Kingdom. This paper draws on recent case law - Thaler v. Perlmutter
(2023), Getty Images v. Stability AI (2025), and Andersen v. Stability AI
(2023) - and legislative responses - the EU AI Act (2024) and India's IT Rules
(2021) - to pinpoint four critical doctrinal shortfalls: uncertainty regarding
authorship criteria for AI-generated works; the inefficiency of the existing
OTT licensing framework; the ineffectiveness of enforcement strategies for
large-scale digital infringements; and the absence of international
harmonisation. The paper outlines a coherent set of reforms focusing on a sui
generis right for AI-generated works, a qualified text-and-data-mining (TDM)
exception with mandatory remuneration of creators, legislative recognition of
dynamic injunctions and active participation by India in WIPO's discussions on
AI copyright.
1. Introduction
The 21st century has seen a paradigm
shift in the creation, production, distribution and consumption of creative
works. The advent of artificial intelligence and digital streaming have joined
forces to recraft the creative economy and highlight the inadequacies of
copyright law as traditionally understood. Copyright, the primary legal mechanism
for rewarding creativity and safeguarding the moral and economic interests of
creators, was conceived in the context of human creativity and physical
distribution. The rise of AI as a creative entity and the dominance of OTT
streaming services as worldwide distributors of media have exposed the limits
of the current legal approach.
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