CREATOR Act
- Bill Number
- H.R. 9112
- Origin Chamber
- House
- Congress
- 119th Congress, Session 2
- Policy Area
- Commerce
- Status
- Introduced
- Latest Action
- 2026-06-02: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- Last Updated
- 2026-06-24T08:09:19Z
AI-Generated Summary
Purpose This legislation establishes a new federal intellectual property right for visual artists. It aims to protect against unauthorized commercial use or public distribution of works that impersonate an artist's distinctive style, particularly through artificial intelligence systems.
Key Provisions
- Grant of Right: Visual artists or their right holders receive the exclusive authority to permit commercial exploitation or interstate public distribution of a "stylistic impersonation" of their work.
- Nature of the Right: This is a distinct federal right separate from copyright and trademark. It covers only deliberate emulation of an artist's publicly associated distinctive visual characteristics and does not extend to general ideas, genres, or non-targeted artistic influence. The right is licensable and assignable.
- Duration: For living artists, the right lasts for their lifetime. For deceased artists, it lasts 10 years after death and may be renewed in 5-year increments up to 50 years total, with registration required through the Register of Copyrights.
- Liability: Applies to commercial sales, licensing, or distribution of impersonations, or to AI systems intentionally configured and marketed for generating such impersonations. General-purpose AI systems are protected unless specifically targeted. Online services receive safe harbor protections if they remove content upon valid notice.
- Exclusions: Permits uses for commentary, criticism, parody, satire, news reporting, scholarship, and incidental resemblances, provided they do not mislead about source or sponsorship. Obscene material remains subject to existing laws.
- Remedies: Courts may issue injunctions and award actual damages, profits, or statutory damages ranging from $10,000 to $150,000 per work depending on willfulness.
- Safe Harbors and Notices: Online services must designate agents for notices and follow removal procedures similar to existing digital copyright rules, including counter-notifications.
- Rules of Construction: The Act does not limit copyright, impose monitoring duties on platforms or AI providers, or create liability based solely on AI training data.
Significant Changes to Existing Law The bill creates an entirely new category of protection for artistic style that operates independently of copyright (title 17) and trademark law. It introduces targeted liability for AI-generated content while preserving broad exclusions for expressive uses and general artistic influence. It also establishes a limited federal preemption of state laws that overlap with stylistic impersonation claims.
Potential Impacts
- Government Agencies: The Register of Copyrights would maintain a public directory of post-mortem rights and handle renewal notices.
- Citizens and Businesses: Visual artists gain new enforcement tools against commercial AI outputs mimicking their style. AI developers and online platforms face compliance requirements for targeted systems but retain protections for general-purpose tools. Users of AI art tools may encounter restrictions on certain commercial applications.
- International Relations: No direct provisions address foreign entities, though the interstate commerce focus could affect cross-border digital distribution.
Main Stakeholders Affected
- Visual artists and their heirs or assignees (right holders).
- Developers and providers of artificial intelligence systems.
- Online services hosting user-generated content.
- Commercial users and distributors of AI-generated visual works.
- Consumers and creators relying on general artistic styles or non-targeted AI tools.
Notable Legal, Constitutional, or Political Implications The Act includes explicit language preserving First Amendment protections and prohibiting liability based solely on AI training processes. It features a severability clause and limits preemption to avoid broadly overriding state right-of-publicity or unfair competition laws. The framework emphasizes narrow tailoring of remedies and safe harbors to balance artist protections with innovation and free expression.
This summary was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the official source document for the authoritative text.
Sponsor
Rep. Van Duyne, Beth [R-TX-24]
Cosponsors (4)
Rep. Clarke, Yvette D. [D-NY-9], Rep. Foushee, Valerie P. [D-NC-4], Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17], Rep. Owens, Burgess [R-UT-4]
Recent Actions
- 2026-06-02: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
- 2026-06-02: Introduced in House
- 2026-06-02: Introduced in House
Bill Versions
- Creative Rights Ensuring Artists’ Technique and Originality are Reserved Act — issued 2026-06-02 — PDF (19 pages)