Developments
A running log of the court decisions, agency guidance, and industry events that change the answer to who owns the code. Newest first.
Ninth Circuit rejects the DMCA theory in Doe v. GitHub
AI coding tools that emit unattributed code create new works, not copies, so the DMCA does not apply. Ordinary infringement and the open-source contract claims live on.
Third Circuit hears the appeal in Thomson Reuters v. Ross
The first federal appellate court to take up fair use for AI training heard argument in June 2026. A ruling is pending.
Anthropic Couldn't Answer Who Owns the Code Claude Wrote
Anthropic leaked Claude Code's own source, issued 8,000 DMCA takedowns, and ran straight into the question this site is named after.
Supreme Court declines to hear Thaler v. Perlmutter
Certiorari denied. The human authorship requirement now stands as settled U.S. copyright law unless Congress acts.
D.C. Circuit rules AI cannot be an author in Thaler v. Perlmutter
Works created entirely by AI are not eligible for copyright. Only humans can hold copyright protection.
First decision to reject fair use for AI training
The District of Delaware rejected Ross Intelligence's fair use defense and found infringement in Thomson Reuters v. Ross.
Copyright Office: only meaningful human input earns protection
The Office's report on the copyrightability of AI outputs says AI-assisted works may qualify, but only the human-authored portions are protected.
Allen v. Perlmutter tests whether prompting is authorship
An artist denied registration after more than 600 iterative prompts is challenging the refusal in federal court in Colorado.
Zarya of the Dawn sets the template for mixed human and AI works
The Copyright Office registered the human-written text and arrangement of a Midjourney comic but excluded the individual AI images.
Doe v. GitHub: the Copilot class action is filed
The only major U.S. litigation specifically about AI coding tools and their output. The Ninth Circuit rejected the DMCA claims in September 2026; contract claims continue.
Federal Circuit: an AI cannot be an inventor
Thaler v. Vidal holds that an inventor under the Patent Act must be a natural person. The Supreme Court declined review in 2023.
Supreme Court: you need a registration in hand before you can sue
Fourth Estate v. Wall-Street.com holds that a pending copyright application is not enough to file an infringement suit.
Naruto v. Slater: a non-human cannot own a copyright
The Ninth Circuit held that animals have no standing under the Copyright Act. The same principle now applies to machines.
The Defend Trade Secrets Act becomes law
The federal trade secret statute has no human authorship requirement, a gap that matters once AI writes the code.