Copyright Law in the Age of AIMatthew Sag

Copyright Law in the Age of AI

Matthew Sag

2026 Edition, version 1.1 · August 23, 2026

A complete casebook on United States copyright law, free to read online or download. Twenty-eight chapters and 177 extracted decisions, current to August 2026. Fair use is treated early and in depth, and AI runs through the book rather than being confined to a single chapter.

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Here for AI? Start with these

Chapter 3Copyright in AI-Generated and AI-Assisted WorksWho, if anyone, owns what a machine makes: the Copyright Office, Thaler, and the human-authorship requirement. Chapter 15Nonexpressive Use As Fair UseIs training a model on copyrighted works fair use? Text data mining, Google Books, and the generative AI cases. Chapter 26Digital Rights Management, Copyright Management Information, and Web ScrapingScraping, anti-circumvention, and copyright management information: the law around getting the data.

The book

Part 1

  1. 1Introduction to Copyright Law
  2. 2Copyright Subject Matter and Questions of Creativity, Originality, and Intellectual Creation
  3. 3Copyright in AI-Generated and AI-Assisted Works
  4. 4Idea-Expression, Functionality and Other Exclusions—Part I
  5. 5Idea-Expression, Functionality and Other Exclusions—Part II
  6. 6How the Meaning of Reproduction has Changed Over Time
  7. 7The Reproduction Right—Part I
  8. 8The Reproduction Right—Part II
  9. 9Making Derivative Works

Part 2

  1. 10Introduction to Fair Use
  2. 11Transformative Use Since Campbell
  3. 12Transformative Use and Justification after Warhol
  4. 13Fair Use in Particular Contexts—Part I
  5. 14Fair Use in Particular Contexts—Part II
  6. 15Nonexpressive Use As Fair Use
  7. 16Ownership, Authorship and Transfer
  8. 17The Boundaries of the Work
  9. 18Moral Rights
  10. 19Copyright and Industrial Design
  11. 20Copyright in Computer Software

Part 3

  1. 21Distribution & First Sale
  2. 22The Intersection of Copyright and State Law Rights
  3. 23Public Performance, Display & Transmission
  4. 24Secondary Liability for Copyright Infringement
  5. 25Internet Safe Harbors From Claims of Copyright Infringement
  6. 26Digital Rights Management, Copyright Management Information, and Web Scraping
  7. 27Volitional Conduct
  8. 28Copyright Remedies and Procedure