Artificial Intelligence, Copyright Liability, and Digital Sovereignty Kajal Vyas Abstract Kajal Vyas

Artificial Intelligence, Copyright Liability, and Digital Sovereignty:

A Legal Inquiry into Global Equity

The rapid expansion of generative Artificial Intelligence has transformed the way copyrighted works are accessed, processed, and reproduced within digital ecosystems. This transformation has raised significant legal concerns regarding fair use, copyright liability, and the broader question of digital sovereignty in ensuring equitable access to knowledge. Through a focused doctrinal examination of Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence Inc. as a contemporary case study, this paper analyses how courts are reassessing fair use, commercial exploitation, and market substitution harms in AI training disputes.¹

The paper also examines that these concerns extend beyond copyright law into the wider framework of digital sovereignty and global equity. The concentration of data infrastructures and computational resources in the hands of a few multinational corporations raises important concerns regarding informational autonomy, access inequality, and the capacity of developing jurisdictions to participate meaningfully in AI-driven knowledge economies. Such asymmetries risk reinforcing existing structural divides in education, language representation, and cultural preservation.

Adopting a doctrinal and conceptual methodology, this paper analyses whether contemporary legal frameworks are sufficiently equipped to balance technological advancement with fairness, accountability, and access to knowledge. It contends that digital sovereignty should be understood not only as regulatory control over data flows but also as the equitable distribution of technological opportunities. The paper concludes that a rights-oriented legal response, grounded in intellectual property justice and human rights principles, is essential to ensure that the benefits of AI remain globally inclusive and legally and ethically justified.²

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Copyright Law; Digital Sovereignty; Global Equity; Access to Knowledge