Importance of Copyright and Intellectual Property in the Academic Context

3. The Importance of Intellectual Property management and copyright

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Copyright consists of both economic and moral components.

The right to exploit a work of authorship is established through a contract, by granting permission for use, or through other legal transactions. When an author grants exploitation rights to another party by contract, it is particularly important to regulate the following issues:

• whether the other party may use the work in all ways or only in a specific manner (specify the way)
• whether the other person acquires an exclusive or non-exclusive right of exploitation
• in which territory the other person is authorized to use the work (e.g., only in Croatia, worldwide, etc.)
• the duration of the exploitation right (e.g., for a limited number of years or for the full duration of copyright protection)
• whether the author is entitled to remuneration for the granted exploitation rights and, if so, in what amount (compensation can be set as a lump sum or as a percentage of some objectively determined value, e.g., the price per copy)

Further information on this topic is available via the link.

Copyright as a whole is inalienable and non-transferable, meaning that the author, as the natural person who created the work, always remains the holder of that right. For universities or their constituent institutions to use works created by employees, associates, or students, exploitation rights must be acquired through a contract or a specific written declaration.

An exception applies to computer programs created within an employment relationship, in which case the copyright belongs to the employer (the constituent institution or the university) by operation of law.

If a university or its constituent institution decides to regulate the status of works created within the scope of employment through labour regulations, a collective agreement, or another internal act governing relations between the employer and the author-employee, the author-employee is bound by such rules only if they have explicitly agreed to them or otherwise accepted them. This acceptance must be given in writing, for example, through a clause in the employment contract, a separate contract, or a separate written statement.

The issue of authorship over works created by artificial intelligence (AI) presents a significant challenge. At present, it is advisable to rely on the guidelines of the United States Copyright Office (USCO), which state that a work created using AI is protected by copyright only if a human can demonstrate significant creative effort in the creation of the final content. For example, if generative AI is used with very simple instructions or prompts to generate an image, music, or text, the result is not considered a work of authorship. In such cases, AI generates the output based on existing data but lacks the human creativity required for copyright protection, as confirmed by relevant court decisions.

However, AI is regarded as a tool rather than an independent author when human involvement goes beyond simple prompting. Human authorship exists where a person modifies AI-generated content with a sufficient level of originality, creates a compilation, or significantly influences the final form of the work through their creative contribution. In such situations, the human contribution is authorial, and AI serves merely as a tool. The decisive factor for copyright protection is demonstrable and substantial creative input by a human author.