Berne Convention bars AI copyright registration formalities

Legal experts warn that the Berne Convention prohibits governments from imposing registration formalities as a condition for copyright protection on AI-generated works. Trevor Baylis argued on Bluesky that requiring authors to register AI outputs would violate international treaty obligations banning formalities for creative works. This legal constraint prevents policymakers from establishing administrative systems to filter out non-copyrightable AI content before it enters the marketplace. Consequently, courts must adjudicate whether specific AI-generated materials qualify for protection without preliminary government screening mechanisms. The absence of a registry means litigation remains the primary method for defining AI copyright boundaries. Critics contend this approach will flood judicial systems with disputes over synthetic media lacking human authorship. Current international law thus limits legislative options for managing AI intellectual property rights at the registration stage.