German court rules AI comic adaptation of copyrighted photo doesn't violate the original

A German Higher Regional Court ruled that an AI comic-style version of a copyrighted diving dog photo did not infringe the original copyright.

The court said the adapted image did not copy the protected creative elements of the source photo.

It also held that AI outputs can receive copyright protection only when a human makes clearly creative choices.

The decision helps clarify when AI-edited images may borrow from copyrighted photos and when AI results can be copyrighted themselves.