Dr. Beatriz San Martin Weighs In on AI, Copyright, and the Creative Industry’s Legal Crossroads
Intellectual Property and Technology partner Dr. Beatriz San Martin was recently quoted in the CMOtech UK article, “UK faces backlash over AI copyright rules from creatives & tech,” and the Solicitors’ Journal article, “UK Government faces backlash over AI copyright issues.” Both stories examined the UK government’s controversial approach to copyright protections in the context of AI training. The debate has intensified as Parliament considers reforms that could weaken safeguards for creatives in favor of AI industry growth.
San Martin explained that “data scraping in the UK to train an AI model is likely to constitute copyright infringement if a copyright work is included in the data scraped without the consent of or license from the copyright owner.” She emphasized that copyright is a tradable property right, comparing the licensing of song lyrics to renting out a home. While public figures like Sir Elton John have referred to such uses as “theft,” San Martin noted that the characterization, though legally inaccurate, “highlights how serious this issue is to creatives and their livelihoods.”
She also underscored the legal uncertainty surrounding whether AI model training and outputs might constitute copyright infringement. She noted that such questions will be judged on a case-by-case basis depending on how the technologies operate and generate results.
