CIPPIC Files Memorandum of Fact and Law in CIPPIC v Sahni

CIPPIC has filed its Memorandum of Fact and Law with the Federal Court in Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) v Sahni. CIPPIC is asking the Federal Court to expunge or rectify a copyright registration that holds out an artificial intelligence (“AI”) program as an author under Canadian copyright law.

At the heart of this dispute is SURYAST, an AI-generated output, that raises fundamental questions about authorship, originality, and AI’s place in creative endeavors. Ankit Sahni, an intellectual property lawyer from New Delhi, obtained a copyright registration for SURYAST, listing himself and the AI system as co-authors. The SURYAST output is an adaptation of a sunset photograph, taken by Mr. Sahni, but distorted by the AI according to the style of Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.”

CIPPIC argues three core positions:

1.      CIPPIC has standing to bring this application as an "interested person" under the Copyright Act and on public interest grounds. The term should be interpreted broadly to allow public interest organizations to ensure the accuracy of the register, particularly when no private party is positioned to challenge an invalid registration that has broad systemic implications.

2.      SURYAST is not copyrightable because it lacks an author. The Federal Court of Appeal has confirmed that an author must be a human being, and the entire framework of the Copyright Act is built on this premise. Mr. Sahni is not the author because he only provided an unprotectable idea, while the AI system was solely responsible for generating the work's final expressive form.

3.      SURYAST is not "original," which requires the exercise of "skill and judgment." An AI system is incapable of exercising these human faculties; its process is purely computational. Mr. Sahni's contribution was a "trivial and mechanical act" of selecting inputs, which is not enough to meet the originality standard required for copyright protection.

CIPPIC’s Applicant Record:

Mr. Sahni’s Respondent Record: