Omid Shamim ’23 paper on Copyright, AI wins New York State Intellectual Property Association Award
Albany Law School students are constantly exploring innovative areas of law.
The latest example – this one recognized by the New York State Intellectual Property Association (NYIPLA) – is Omid Shamim ’23 whose paper, “Copyright is Not Keeping Up with Technology: How AI-Generative Works are Challenging the U.S. System,” was the runner-up entry in the Honorable William Conner Writing Competition this April.
“The United States should find a happy medium that promotes the progress of science and useful arts as intended under Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution," Shamim points out in his paper. "The [U.S.] Copyright Office should follow the lead of the United Kingdom and grant copyright for a period of 50 years from the date of creation for this new category of expression, this will allow enough incentive for experimentation and growth in the new tools available and allow an artist to express their creativity in once unimaginable ways.”
The Honorable William Conner Writing Competition was established in 1999 to recognize exceptionally written papers submitted by law students at the NYIPLA’s Annual Meeting and Awards Dinner. The seeds for the NYIPLA were sewn just over 100 years ago with the association taking its modern shape in the years following World War II.
Shamim will receive a $1,000 cash prize for his work on the paper at the May 10 ceremony. NYIPLA will publish the paper and Associate Professor Robert Heverly ’92 is planning on citing it in an upcoming essay on liability issues in Artificial Intelligence and Copyright.
“This is a great accomplishment, impressively authored by Omid solely for the competition. It is an interesting and thoughtful paper and I hope you’ll join me in proudly congratulating him on this accomplishment,” Heverly said.
Shamim is the third Albany Law student to be recognized by the NYIPLA, but he is the first since Jayme L. Majek '07 won the 2007 competition. David V. Lampman'03 won the 2003 competition.
Hannah Scott, from Quinnipiac University School of Law, won the 2023 competition with her paper, "You Don't Own Me: A Look at Tattoos, Copyrights, and Likeness."
