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HTTPSWWW - Eurojust.europa - Eusitesdefaultfilesassetsgenerative Ai Impact To Ip Crimes PDF
November 2023
This document was prepared by the Intellectual Property Crime Project at the European Union Agency
for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust). The Intellectual Property Crime Project is funded by
the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and executed by Eurojust under the terms
agreed in the service level agreement signed between the two organisations in March 2021. The IPC
Project aims at boosting cooperation and ensuring a more coherent and robust response against
IP infringements across the EU. The IPC Project focuses on building, promoting and exchanging
knowledge, tools and expertise, as well as on awareness raising and the provision of enhanced legal
and operational support to complex cross-border IPC investigations.
DISCLAIMER
The designations and presentation of the material used in this publication, including their corresponding
references, do not constitute the expression of any of Eurojust’s views.
This document was developed using information acquired from online sources, open access to various
generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, and current legislation. AI tools such as ChatGPT, Midjourney
and DALL-E were used to illustrate examples and generate graphic images for the document. The
prompts used when drafting the document are clearly marked.
The paper uses the official logos of generative AI tools to depict which tool was used to illustrate the
specific examples.
In the event of errors or inconsistencies in this document, please notify the IPC Project at
IPCrime@eurojust.europa.eu.
© Eurojust, 2023. Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Legislative AI regulation.....................................................................................................................8
Copyright violations.........................................................................................................................23
Counterfeiting...................................................................................................................................26
Trade secret........................................................................................................................................31
Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................37
References..........................................................................................................................................38
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently gained Criminals swiftly adapt to new technology
significant popularity. News stories about and incorporate them into their modus
self-driving cars, creative robots and learning operandi, posing considerable obstacles for
algorithms have raised awareness among law enforcement agencies and the judiciary.
academics, policymakers and consumers Intellectual property (IP) crime is no exception.
about the benefits and necessity of artificial The generative AI can supply the criminals with
intelligence. a wide range of tools to enhance their illicit
Computer programs known as ‘generative AI’ business models. This study will look at how
can generate new images, messages and other criminals can utilise generative AI to violate
content (or ‘outputs’) in response to a user’s various IP rights.
textual requests (or ‘inputs’). Examples include Increasing awareness of the potential use of
OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 and ChatGPT programs, AI by criminals will improve the ability of law
Stability AI’s Stable Diffusion program, and enforcement agencies and the judiciary to
Midjourney’s program. These generative AI anticipate potential malicious and criminal
programs are trained to produce such results activities, as well as to prevent, respond to and
in part by exposing them to a huge number of mitigate the effects of malicious use of AI in a
existing works, such as essays, pictures, paintings proactive manner. This would allow for the rapid
and other artworks. identification of developing patterns, as well as
Complex paintings, music or books produced by the use of generative AI’s broad capabilities in
the generative AI programs raise the question of identifying criminal activity.
whether such works can be copyright protected. Although there have been some efforts to regulate
While most of jurisdictions require human generative AI in the EU, the legal framework
creativity, the creators of generative AI outputs remains unestablished. Existing regulations are
claim that significant human involvement in frequently unable to adapt to the special nature
manipulating inputs merits such works to be of AI and how it uses copyright-protected works.
copyright protected. The study examines ongoing cases and attempts
Another issue emerges as a result of the training to regulate the use of generative AI in the field
methods used by generative AI systems. They of IP.
operate by recognising and recreating patterns The paper also employed generative AI tools
in data, much like the majority of machine- including ChatGPT, DALL-E 2 and Midjourney to
learning software. However, because these generate responses to prompts that were aimed
programs produce code, writing, music and art, to show how these tools could be abused by
the data they require is human-generated, and in criminals. The paper investigates the limits of
some cases copyright-protected. This paper will prompt manipulation in order to circumvent the
explore in detail how generative AI programs safeguards put in place by these AI systems, as
are trained and how such machine-learning well as how these safeguards evolve. Most of the
processes can eventually lead to copyright- prompts were generated in April–October 2023;
infringing outputs. the AIs have evolved since then, and the same
While generative AI has a wide range of requests might result in a different outcome.
potential uses for both businesses and people,
unfortunately, the promise of more effective
automation and autonomy is intrinsically related
to criminal activity.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Types of generative AI
Music creation
Music based on styles of input
AI analyse large datasets of existing
music and then generate new
compositions based on the analysis
Image creation
Create images based on text input
New images
Modify and complete existing
images
Create art in any desired style
scientific work
These tools allow users to insert
information to the AI tools, which in turn
produces realistic images.
Text-to-speech generator
A GAN-based text-to-speech generator
can produce realistic speech audio from
a written text.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
How to assess
human
Read more! involvement in AI
art?
Some authors claim to have spent a significant amount of time and creativity to achieve a specific
result. For example, the creator of this AI-generated print called ‘Théâtre D'Opéra Spatial’,
created using Midjourney, which won an art fair prize, stated that he spent several weeks
curating the perfect prompts and manually crafting the finished product, demonstrating a high
level of intellectual attentiveness. For now, his claim for copyright protection has been rejected.
However, how to assess human involvement while generating AI output, and how much human
involvement is required, will be the subject of future decisions in national court practice.
Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Legislative AI regulation
Legal regulation surrounding generative AI is The Act lays down a solid risk methodology to
still not fully developed, and legislators and define ‘high-risk’ AI systems that pose significant
law practitioners do not yet fully understand risks to the health and safety or fundamental
how this technology works and what are its rights of persons. Every AI system needs to be
possibilities and limits. Therefore, potential assessed based on the potential risks they may
legal claims related to IP infringements are pose. Generative AI is generally considered to be
going to be challenging and will require in-depth in the low-risk category.
knowledge of the technology and a national legal Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, would have
framework. to comply with transparency and safety
On 14 June 2023, the European requirements:
Parliament adopted the AI Act, • disclosing that the content was generated
which is the first regulation in by AI;
this area. While this legislative
act still has to go through • designing the model to prevent it from
several layers of revision, it is generating illegal content;
a first step in setting uniform Read the • publishing summaries of copyrighted
rules and requirements for Act! data used for training.
the use of AI in general.
For example, generative AI models would have
The EU AI Act is focused on regulating the to be designed so that they do not produce any
development, release and use of artificial illegal content.
intelligence within the EU. The new rules
This obligation will bring generative AI a step
establish obligations for providers and users
closer to more transparent usage, which would
depending on the level of risk of artificial
preclude the potential risks posed by the AI.
intelligence.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Using well-known
paintings to create
new art
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
#1
comprising of hundreds of modern
paintings. The output looks like a
modern painting but does not include
any distinct element of a particular
AI training models are inevitably
painting.
linked with the output produced by
the generative AI. Does the AI produce
material that is transformative enough
#2
An AI machine produces a book in the
not to pose a threat to the creators or style of a famous author using a small
compete against their work? number of the books of the same
authors as its dataset.
In this case, three scenarios can be
identified.
The distinction between the first two scenarios is infringement cases, both civil and criminal, the
whether the produced output can be compared to case law still needs to address the question of
a specific copyright-protected work and whether whether the work, which is ‘stylistically’ similar
it can compete with copyright-protected work. to the copyright-protected work, could be
In other words, each output must be evaluated considered as substantially similar. For example,
on a case-by-case basis to determine whether should the copyrights still be applicable in the
it is sufficiently transformative. Can a specific case of Next Rembrandt, the question is whether
AI-produced work be considered similar to the copyright infringement can be claimed when
original work? The first scenario involves the the goal was to produce a work which could be
use of a large number of works in the same style, attributed to Rembrandt ‘stylistically’.
whereas the second involves the use of a small Similarly, in the third scenario, individual
number of works by a single author. While the artists would have to demonstrate significant
first scenario is unlikely to result in copyright similarities between their work and work
infringement, the second example could. produced by a large number of different artists.
To establish infringement, a copyright owner Similarly, in the third scenario, individual
must establish that the people who orchestrated artists would have to demonstrate significant
the AI’s output have taken a ‘substantial part’ similarities between their work and work
of their original work(s). While the criterion produced by a large number of different artists.
of similarity is assessed in a number of IP-
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
19
Image generated using Midjourneyai.ai
Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Undoubtedly, the element of similarity between the most influence over the algorithm producing
original and pirated work and whether the copyright-infringing material. It could be
AI outputs that are ‘in style of’ the original possible that the AI creator who designed the
copyright-protected material is a core legal algorithm intended to create it in such a way
question. Nonetheless, there are some other that it would infringe copyrights. Another option
legal considerations. could be that the algorithm could be used in a
Intent. This element is specifically important in way that would not infringe copyrights. In this
criminal IP cases. It is necessary to prove that case a person who uses the algorithm to produce
there was an intention to produce copyright- copyright-infringing material would be held
infringing material – a work produced by an liable.
independent artist, which is accidentally similar However, all these issues have yet to be discussed
to the original work would not raise criminal in the courts.
liability. In other words, the courts would have
to assess the nature of the use of the copyright-
protected works and its impact on the market.
Causal link. There must be a causal connection
between the copyright-protected work and the
creation of the infringing work; ‘copying’ must
take place, that is. This link could be proven if the
AI has been trained using copyright-protected
works.
Who is liable? Determining liability for
infringement of copyright by an AI system could
be complicated. To date, the AI does not have
a legal personality and cannot be held liable
for any IP right violation. The best approach in
determining the liability is to examine who had
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
While the courts still have to address the many do research, and even manufacture package
legal issues surrounding the training and use parts. It can also be applied to a wide range of
of AI in creative products, there are also a lot of IP domains, from copyright infringement to
areas where AI can be used as a tool to advance trademark registration invoicing fraud.
criminal modus operandi. This paper will look into different categories
The growing popularity of of IP crimes and how criminals can abuse the
AI has resulted in its abuse potential of generative AI for their criminal
by fraudsters attempting activities.
to improve their skills in a
range of criminal industries.
The most critical criminal
categories, according
Read the
to Europol’s report on
report!
ChatGPT, are fraud and social
engineering, misinformation,
and cybercrime. Similarly, generative AI can
be used to encourage IP infringement. The
generative AI can be used to gather knowledge,
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Identifying
illegal
streaming
platform
Immediate
takedown
Following Identifying
payment person/
methods group
Identifying Identifying
IP address username or
handle
Platform pops
up under
different name
Successfully
targeting the
roots of pirated
platforms
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Criminals can also use generative AI to gain It should be noted that the criminal can get answer
the technical knowledge needed to make to most of these questions in online search engines
illegal streaming content far more difficult to such as Google or Bing.
detect. One method to make it more difficult to
identify copyright-infringing content is to erase
digital watermarks. In this case, Chat GPT does
not offer assistance on how to remove digital
watermarks and says that contacting the work’s
owner is required. This illustrates that the
generative AI is continually evolving through its
ChatGPT answers which software
use and is already programmed not to respond
is used to remove digital
to prompts that may encourage illegal activity.
However, these safeguards are not fool proof. watermarks
After rephrasing the question and making it It is important to note that removing watermarks
more neutral, ChatGPT did in the end provide an without proper authorization is generally considered
answer to the question of what software can be unethical and potentially illegal. However, there are
used to remove digital watermarks. some software tools that are capable of removing
Generative AI can make further progress on a watermarks from digital media files. These tools are
variety of technical and practical issues in setting typically designed for legitimate purposes such as
up a business model, which is not necessary editing or restoring images, and they should be used
illegal on its own, but would help criminals carry responsibly and within legal boundaries. Here are a
out illegal activities. Chat GPT could, for example, few examples of such software tools:
give advice on how to set up payment methods, 1. Adobe Photoshop: Photoshop is a
advertise tools or even collect user information, widely used professional image editing software
which can be sold to various people later on. that provides advanced tools for editing and
manipulating images. While it is not specifically
designed for watermark removal, it offers various
ChatGPT refuses to answer how features and techniques that can be used to remove
to remove digital watermarks visible watermarks.
I’m sorry, but I cannot assist you with 2. GIMP: GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation
unethical or illegal activities, such as removing Program) is a free and open-source image editing
watermarks from copyrighted images or content. software that provides a range of tools and filters for
Watermarks are often used by content creators editing and retouching images. Similar to Photoshop,
to protect their intellectual property and to it can be used to remove visible watermarks.
ensure proper attribution.
3. Inpaint: Inpaint is a specialized software
If you’re interested in using an image or content tool designed specifically for removing unwanted
with a watermark, I recommend reaching out elements from images, including watermarks. It
to the content creator or copyright holder for uses advanced algorithms to intelligently fill in
permission to use the material without the the removed area with content that matches the
watermark. Respecting copyright and intellectual surrounding pixels.
property rights is important for ethical and legal
4. Content-Aware Fill: Content-Aware Fill
reasons.
is a feature available in Adobe Photoshop that
If you have a legitimate reason to use an image intelligently removes unwanted elements from
without a watermark, consider obtaining the images and fills in the gaps seamlessly. It can be
necessary permissions or licenses through used to remove certain types of visible watermarks
proper channels. by analyzing the surrounding areas and generating
content that blends naturally.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
In recent years, various national courts have It’s essential to consult with legal professionals
ruled that parallel imports are an example of who are familiar with the laws in your jurisdiction
counterfeiting. The district court in Poland and the specific nature of the goods you’re
determined that the use of a counterfeit dealing with. Laws and regulations can vary
trademark is unlawful in principle because the widely from one country to another, and even
holder of the right of protection of the original within different regions of the same country. If
you’re considering selling grey market goods,
seeking legal advice will help ensure that you are
aware of and compliant with the relevant laws
and regulations.
Classic distribution
of goods
Goods manufacturer
Authorised
wholesaler
Parallel
imports
Sale of illegal goods Unauthorised Obtaining
wholesaler discounted or
discontinued goods
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
AI can also be used to understand how to make The Alcoa case in the
Phishing attacks are another method of gaining United States is an example
access to a company’s computer systems that of phishing-based trade
contain trade secrets. Phishing attacks frequently secret theft. In this example,
involve the perpetrator sending an email with hackers used email to contact
legitimate-looking documents or links that, when senior Alcoa workers while
clicked on, can install malware on the recipient’s impersonating a business Read the
system. These emails can usually be identified board member. When case!
by looking for language problems, misspellings opened, the email planted
or strange phrasing. However, these errors are malware on the recipients’
uncommon in ChatGPT-generated text. ChatGPT computers.
may easily be used to create professional-looking
emails and letters for phishing attacks.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Phisher
How are cybercriminals
using ChatGPT? Credentials
Profit
Pr
ail
om
m
pt
Ph
ge
is
in
hi
Credentials
ish
ng
Ph
em
ai
l
Cre
den
tia
ls
Email produced by
Customer
ChatGPT
Hacker site
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Similarly, the scammers can use generative AI to These letters can be translated into a variety
produce mass scam emails on behalf of various of other languages using advanced language
trademark registration offices. translation software such as Google Translate,
When asked to produce emails on behalf of Deepl or Microsoft Translator to widen the
EUIPO, ChatGPT promptly generated a draft geographical reach of the scam.
email about a trademark registration extension Additionally, generative AI-produced letters
on behalf of an EUIPO employee. There is no could be sent out in bulk using Microsoft’s bulk
safeguard in place that would prevent ChatGPT email merge tool. There are many AI tools to
from producing such emails on behalf of another produce mass emails, which would even include
organisation. This resource gives criminals easy a personalised name at the beginning of the
access to an infinite supply of well-written emails email. This will make it harder to detect phishing
and letters to send to IP rights holders. emails.
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Conclusions
The rapid advancement of generative AI has far- to research for ways to remain anonymous online
reaching implications for intellectual property or to collect technical information required in
protection. This new technology has a significant many areas of intellectual property violation.
impact on creative processes, enabling anyone While generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT
to compose a song, write a book, or create a and DALL-E provide technical restrictions that
complex painting. prevent responses to prompts from leading to
The technological basis of generative AI criminal behaviour, it has been demonstrated
necessitates training on a massive amount of that tweaking the questions and making them
publicly available data. This data frequently more generic allows the criminal to receive
includes copyright-protected material, allowing desired information.
AI to produce results identical to IP-protected However, we would be making a huge mistake by
material. A number of artists in the United States saying that generative AIs are a bad thing. They
and the European Union have already filed have so many more uses than for criminal activity.
lawsuits alleging that the generative AI’s training The human brain works in such a way that it fears
process violates their intellectual property rights. and tries to destroy any new phenomenon that it
In this context, the courts will have to address a cannot understand. The novelty of AI will slowly
number of legal questions, such as whether fair wear off as we come to understand it more and
use doctrine or TDM exceptions are applicable. more, and this fear will subside. At the turn of
The AI learning method can be considered to be a the century the publishing companies cried that
discovery made by a human brain, but no human the radio and later the television would kill the
brain is involved in the reviewing of copyright- print media, and this has yet to happen.
protected material by an AI algorithm during the
machine-learning process. Copyright can only
be breached if it is in a format that reproduces
the entire art or pieces of it in a format that
could be perceived by a human. Machine-coded
information does not meet this criterion.
As a strong tool for creating artistic output,
generative AI raises the question of whether
it might produce copyright-infringing results.
There are several scenarios and variants of AI
output that must be evaluated by the court on
a case-by-case basis. The courts would have
to examine the element of similarities and
demonstrate a relationship between the AI
output and the criminal’s intent to generate a
copyright-infringing product. However, the fact
that the AI is making a new output using pieces
of previously protected copyrighted works raises
the legal question of whether this constitutes a
criminal offense.
Finally, AI can be used as a tool to provide a large
source of ways to assist criminals in advancing
their modus operandi. Generative AI can be used
37
Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
References sul-diritto-d-autore
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Generative Artificial Intelligence: the impact on intellectual property crimes
Other
Can Cybercriminals Use ChatGPT to Hack
Your Bank or PC? https://www.makeuseof.
com/cybercriminals-use-chatgpt-hack-bank-
pc/#:~:text=ChatGPT %20Can %20Help %20
Cybercriminals %20Hack %20Your %20
PC&text=Some %20cybercriminals %20already
%20use %20the,asking %20ChatGPT %20to
%20create %20malware.
39
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