Hi AI, Can You Produce a Song? A Study on the Dynamics of EU Related Rights and the Implications of AI

Abstract

This thesis delves into the intricate challenge of generative AI systems, a topic that intertwines the complex dynamics of the related rights of performers and phonogram producers within the EU. The thesis employs a multimethod approach, drawing from legal history and existing law, to grapple with these multifaceted challenges. The approach navigates the initial hurdles that the development of related rights faced and how these might be further complicated by the rise of generative AI systems. The thesis further develops its method, Existing Law in Context, based on the method of legal dogmatic research and EU Law in context principles. Overall, both the interdisciplinary approach and the development of the ELC encompass the complexity of how AI challenges the dynamic of related rights within the EU. Within the legal history, this thesis uncovers that related rights were initially granted to acknowledge the skills and resources that performers and phonogram producers had invested in the fixation of sound. Furthermore, the thesis contextualizes AI technology within the scope of related rights. Here, the thesis reveals that as phonogram producers and performers can benefit from training AI systems, only the phonogram producers can exploit the output. This shift in technological opportunities for exploiting rights poses a significant challenge to the interlinked dynamics of the phonogram producers and the performers, thereby reshaping the legal landscape. Lastly, the thesis applies the findings of legal history and ELC within the value-based perspectives of legal certainty, societal norms, and morals and ethics. In this section, it is found that AI systems challenge the existing law when establishing legal certainty and reflecting society's development. The moral and ethics aspect finds that the initial incentives for establishing the dynamics of related rights fail to comprehend the new technology in striking a fair balance. These discussions are further assessed through the European Union's aims and objectives. Here, it is found that the challenges also entail the overall aims and objectives of freedom, the function of the internal market, and the promotion of innovation.