Copyright in AI-Generated Output

Copyright in AI-Generated Output in practice

A designer delivers a logo made with an image generator, and you want to protect it as yours. Under Section 3 of the Slovak Copyright Act, only a natural person can be an author, so pure AI output with no creative human input attracts no copyright. Protection can cover only the part a person shaped through their own creative choices, for example by substantial editing or by composing several outputs.

Because copyright law often does not help here, contracts decide. We review the licence terms of the AI tools you use and add clauses to your contracts with suppliers and employees. We help authors, photographers and publishers reserve their works against AI training. Where someone's likeness or voice is misused in a deepfake, we prepare steps to protect their personality rights.

What we help with

Review of AI tool licence terms: rights in outputs, indemnities, restrictions
Licence agreements for training AI on third-party content
AI use clauses in employment contracts and internal policies
Text and data mining opt-out for rights holders
Personality rights in deepfake cases: demand letter and court action

Worth knowing

The author is a human being

Section 3(1) of Slovak Act No. 185/2015 states that the author is the natural person who created the work. AI has no legal personality and so cannot be an author.

Opting out of training

The text and data mining exception in Article 4 of Directive (EU) 2019/790 allows works to be used for AI training unless the rights holder has reserved them. The reservation should be made technically, for example in robots.txt or metadata, and also stated expressly in your licence terms.

Employees and AI

Under Section 78 of the Slovak Copyright Act, the employer exercises the economic rights in a work created as part of an employee's duties. If the employee lets AI generate the whole output, there is no work and therefore no employee work either.

Common questions

No. Under Section 3 of the Slovak Copyright Act, the author is the natural person who created the work. AI output without creative human input is not protected by copyright.
When a person adds significant creative input: selecting and combining several outputs, substantially editing them or building them into a larger work of their own. The human contribution is then protected.
The vendor's licence terms are the starting point, but they do not ensure the output is free of third-party rights. If the AI effectively reproduces someone else's work from its training data, that author may take action. Output checks and internal rules help.

Articles are in Slovak.

Preparing for the consultation

What to prepare for your consultation

Tick what you already have. You can print the list or save it as a PDF. Your ticks are remembered only in your browser.

For every matter

documents: contracts, decisions, demand letters, invoices
correspondence with the other party or the authority
a short timeline of what happened and when
the questions you want answered and what outcome you hope for

Also for this area

a Business Register extract and the articles of association
exactly what should change: director, registered office, shareholder, company name
identity documents of the people who will sign
contracts with partners that the matter concerns

0 of 8 ready

Discuss your matter with a lawyer

In a consultation we assess your situation, suggest a way forward and tell you what costs to expect.

€90 incl. VAT, 30 minutes, in person or online

This page is for general information, reflects Slovak law at the time of writing and is not a substitute for advice on your particular matter.

Copyright in AI-Generated Output