CREATOR Act

The CREATOR Act gives visual artists the exclusive right to authorize commercial exploitation or public distribution of a stylistic impersonation of their work in or affecting interstate commerce. It establishes a new federal intellectual property right distinct from copyright and trademark, with specific definitions, liability rules, exclusions, safe harbors for online services, civil remedies, and preemption provisions.

Sec. 2, Right against stylistic impersonation: Grants visual artists or right holders the exclusive right to authorize commercial exploitation or public distribution of a stylistic impersonation. This right is distinct from copyright and trademark, does not cover ideas or common styles, applies only to deliberate impersonation, is licensable and assignable, and lasts for the artist's life or 10 years after death with renewable 5-year increments up to 50 years. The Register of Copyrights must maintain a public directory of post-mortem rights.

Sec. 3, Liability: A person is liable only if they knowingly, in interstate commerce, offer for sale, sell, license, distribute, or commercially exploit a stylistic impersonation without authorization, or develop and market a product intentionally configured to generate such impersonations. General-purpose AI systems are not liable unless intentionally configured and marketed for that purpose. Online services are not liable for user content unless they fail to act after a valid notice or court order.

Sec. 4, Exclusions: Excluded uses include commentary, criticism, scholarship, parody, satire, historical works, news reporting, and fleeting resemblance, provided they do not mislead as to source or sponsorship. Obscene material is not exempt.

Sec. 5, Online service safe harbors: Online services are not liable for user-generated content if they designate an agent, expeditiously remove material after a valid notice, and have a repeat violator policy. No proactive monitoring is required. Notifications must include artist identification, material identification, good-faith belief, and contact info. Users can submit counter-notifications, and material may be restored after 10-14 business days unless a court action is filed. Misrepresentations can lead to damages and suspension of notice privileges.

Sec. 6, Civil actions and remedies: Right holders can sue violators. Courts may award injunctive relief and, at plaintiff's election, actual damages plus profits or statutory damages ($10,000-$100,000 per work for intentional commercial actors, $50,000-$150,000 for willful violations). Statutory damages consider willfulness, scale, commercial impact, compliance efforts, and liability limitations. No statutory damages if conduct falls within a safe harbor.

Sec. 7, Rules of construction: The Act does not limit copyright, grant rights over ideas or common styles, require proactive monitoring, prohibit lawful influence or independent authorship, create liability for mere AI system availability, or restrict First Amendment speech. AI system training data or capacity cannot create presumptions about training on specific works.

Sec. 8, Preemption: The Act preempts state law only for conduct constituting stylistic impersonation as defined. It does not preempt copyright, trademark, right-of-publicity, or unfair competition laws.

Sec. 9, Severability: If any provision is invalid, the rest remains in effect.

Sec. 10, Definitions: Defines key terms including artificial intelligence system, artist, authorization, distinctive visual characteristics, general-purpose AI system, material, online service, public distribution, right holder, specifically identified visual artist, stylistic impersonation, and visual work. Stylistic impersonation requires intentional configuration to emulate an artist's distinctive visual characteristics and likely mislead a reasonable viewer or affect the commercial market.

Sec. 11, Effective date: The Act takes effect 180 days after enactment and applies only to conduct occurring on or after that date.