U.S. Copyright Office Will Accept AI-Generated Work for Registration When and if It Embodies Meaningful Human Authorship

In case you missed it, The AI-Restored Beatles song “Now and Then” won a Grammy for best Rock Performance on Sunday, 5 decades after the group broke up. The song was finished and released last year by The Beatles’ only 2 living members, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

Even though both John Lennon and George Harrison died years prior to the song’s release, it was still a group effort. Thanks to AI the Grammy winning song was created using Lennon’s resurrected vocals from an unreleased demo John Lennon recorded in the 1970s. But, “Now and Then” also features new instrumentation from both McCartney and Ringo Starr, plus guitar recordings by the late Harrison from the ‘90s.

Add to this a bombshell decision by the U. S. Copyright Office in January 2025, that “AI generated work can be copyrighted when it embodies meaningful human authorship”, the music industry has been irreversibly changed. This new Copyright ruling just gave AI a big advantage everywhere, but especially when it comes to music.

Let’s review basic copyright law vis-à-vis musical compositions:

The Copyright Act defines a musical composition as a song’s underlying melody, rhythm, and harmony, along with any accompanying lyrics. It can be in the form of sheet music or a recording.

What is protected by a musical composition copyright?

• The arrangement of notes, melodies, and chords
• The lyrics
• The underlying work that can be recorded, sampled, or arranged

What are the rights of a musical composition copyright owner?

• The right to make copies
• The right to prepare derivative works
• The right to sell or distribute copies
• The right to perform or display the work publicly

“Copyright protects the original expression in a work created by a human author, even if the work also includes AI-generated material.”

U.S. Copyright Office

To be clear, AI-generated music that does not have sufficient human involvement or control over the expressive elements falls into the public domain, is available for anyone to use without legal constraints, and cannot be copyright protected.

The phrase “meaningful human authorship” is central to understanding this ruling, and the Copyright Office cautions against equating minimal human input with authorship. Whether human contributions to AI-generated outputs are sufficient to constitute meaningful human authorship is the question that will be analyzed by Copyright Examiners on a case-by-case basis.

Here’s the bottom line…if an AI tool alone is used to generate content based solely on a prompt, without further human creative intervention, the work will not acquire copyright registration, and will not be copyright protected.

Excerpts in this article are set forth in The U.S. Copyright Office August 2023 Notice of Inquiry Report that addresses the legal and policy issues related to AI and copyright. The Report will be published in several Parts, each one addressing a different topic. This Part addresses the copyrightability of works created using generative AI. The first Part, published in 2024, addresses the topic of digital replicas—the use of digital technology to realistically replicate an individual’s voice or appearance. A subsequent part will turn to the training of AI models on copyrighted works, licensing considerations, and allocation of any liability. To learn more, visit www.copyright.gov/ai.

Stay tuned as AI technology will no doubt continue to generate more exciting developments for music and businesses.

This summary is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship with Rimon, P.C. or its affiliates.

Celeste Moy is a Partner in Rimon’s Entertainment Sports & Media practice group.  Ms. Moy has extensive music and entertainment law experience primarily representing songwriters, and their successors-in-interest, in disputes over royalty payments and royalty monetization transactions, copyright assignment terminations and recaptures, as well as negotiating and drafting various types of entertainment contracts for recording and performing artists and music producers.  She also helps her clients to obtain trademark registrations and trademark license agreements for use of their logos, and creative works in connection with advertising, marketing materials and merchandise. Read more here.