U.S. Copyright Office Guidance to The MLC on AI-Created Works
rights policy item·mechanical royalty guidance·active
Advises that works lacking sufficient human authorship are ineligible for section 115 royalties and that suspicious claims may be investigated with royalties held in suspense.
Recorded facts
| Official site | https://www.copyright.gov/ai/USCO-Guidance-Letter-to-The-MLC-Letter-on-AI-Created-Works.pdf ↗ |
|---|---|
| Geography | United States |
| identifier | Guidance letter dated April 20, 2023 |
| parties | U.S. Copyright Office; The Mechanical Licensing Collective |
| item type | mechanical_royalty_guidance |
| confidence | high |
| identifier | Guidance letter dated April 20, 2023 |
| filing date | unknown |
| jurisdiction | United States |
| adoption date | 2023-04-20 |
| affected works | AI-generated and AI-assisted musical works |
| current status | in_force_guidance |
| effective date | 2023-04-20 |
| affected models | unknown |
| canonical title | U.S. Copyright Office Guidance to The MLC on AI-Created Works |
| confidence basis | Primary document reviewed; status language is conservative. |
| enforcement date | unknown |
| affected datasets | unknown |
| issuing authority | U.S. Copyright Office |
| primary documents | https://www.copyright.gov/ai/USCO-Guidance-Letter-to-The-MLC-Letter-on-AI-Created-Works.pdf |
| unresolved questions | The evidentiary threshold and operational consistency of MLC investigations into claimed human authorship. |
| affected entity types | songwriters; publishers; copyright owners; mechanical licensing collective |
| affected organizations | U.S. Copyright Office; The Mechanical Licensing Collective |
History
| applies | U.S. Copyright Office AI Registration Guidance 2023-04-20 — nowUnverifiedSource 1 ↗ VERIFIED medium confidence |
|---|
Sources & changes
Checked 11d ago · mediumhow verification works
Field-level evidence
VERIFIEDrelationship:rpi rights policy us 2026 07 a 002:applies:rpi rights policy us 2026 07 a 001cited source ↗
Public change history
- Status unknown → active
- Official URL unknown → www.copyright.gov/ai/USCO-Guidance-Letter-to-The-MLC-Letter-on-AI-Created-Works.pdf
- Record maintenance · 12 fields updated
Structured information, not legal advice.
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