The Brand Asset You Don't Own
On January 27, 2026, a D2C Fashion Unicorn launched its massive "Republic Day" campaign. The visuals were stunning—hyper-realistic models in futuristic ethnic wear, generated entirely by Midjourney v7 and Runway Gen-4. The marketing team was celebrated for saving ₹2 Crores in photoshoot costs.
On January 28, a rival brand launched the exact same campaign. Same models. Same background. Same lighting. They just swapped the logo.
The Unicorn sent a "Cease and Desist" notice for Copyright Infringement. The rival’s legal team replied with one line: "You don't own this."
They were right. In a landmark clarification, the Delhi High Court (echoing the US Copyright Office) ruled that "AI-Generated Content without significant human authorship is not copyrightable." Since the Unicorn's prompts ("futuristic Indian fashion, 8k, cinematic") did not constitute "authorship," the images were Public Domain. Anyone could use them.
If your marketing team is using GenAI to create your brand assets, do you realize you are building your brand on 'Open Source' land? You own nothing.
Section I: The Tactical Anatomy of "The Ghost Author"
The tactical failure was the "Efficiency Trap." The CMO optimized for speed and cost, bypassing the legal requirement for "Originality."
Under the Copyright Act, 1957, an "Author" must be a human or a legal person. An AI is neither. When the marketing team used raw AI outputs without significant manual editing (painting over, compositing), they created an asset with Zero IP Protection.
The "Tactical Incident" worsened when it was revealed that the prompts used to generate the images were leaked on a Discord server. The rival simply took the prompts and re-generated the assets.
This is the "Shadow IP" Crisis. Companies are filling their digital asset management (DAM) systems with terabytes of content that they legally cannot defend.
Does your Creative Agency contract specify 'Human Authorship'? If they are billing you for AI-generated work, they are selling you air.
Section II: The "Invisible" Blast Radius
The operational fallout is the "Brand Dilution." If your visual identity can be legally cloned by a dropshipper in Surat, your premium positioning evaporates. You lose the "Exclusivity Premium."
The "Founder’s Risk" is "Valuation Discount." During due diligence, IP auditors are now running "GenAI Detectors" on the company's creative assets. If your logo, mascot, or core UI elements are flagged as AI-generated, they are written down to Zero Value. You cannot secure a loan against IP you don't own.
The CFO faces a "Wasted Spend" scenario. The ₹50 Crore media buy was spent promoting visuals that the competitor can now use for free. You effectively subsidized your rival's marketing.
Section III: The Governance Playbook: The "Human Sandwich"
The solution is to re-inject the human into the loop to secure the copyright.
1. The "Significant Modification" Rule: Never use raw AI output. Mandate that every AI asset must be "Significantly Modified" by a human artist (at least 20% change) in Photoshop or After Effects. Keep the "Layer Files" as proof of human effort.
2. The "Prompt Secrecy" Protocol: Treat your high-performing Prompts as "Trade Secrets." Do not share them. If the image isn't copyrightable, at least the recipe (the prompt) can be protected as confidential know-how.
3. The "Hybrid" Contract: Update vendor contracts. Require agencies to disclose which tools were used. If AI is used, demand a lower fee (since they didn't create it) and a warranty that they have added enough "Human Touch" to make it copyrightable.
The Final Verdict
Generative AI is a photocopier, not an artist. If you use it to create your brand, you are printing flyers that anyone can copy. True value in 2026 comes from the "Human Delta"—the part of the work that the machine couldn't do. Protect that, or own nothing.
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7On January 27, 2026, a D2C Fashion Unicorn launched its massive "Republic Day" campaign. The visuals were stunning—hyper-realistic models in futuristic ethnic wear, generated entirely by Midjourney v7 and Runway Gen-4. The marketing team was celebrated for saving ₹2 Crores in photoshoot costs.
On January 28, a rival brand launched the exact same campaign. Same models. Same background. Same lighting. They just swapped the logo.
The Unicorn sent a "Cease and Desist" notice for Copyright Infringement. The rival’s legal team replied with one line: "You don't own this."
They were right. In a landmark clarification, the Delhi High Court (echoing the US Copyright Office) ruled that "AI-Generated Content without significant human authorship is not copyrightable." Since the Unicorn's prompts ("futuristic Indian fashion, 8k, cinematic") did not constitute "authorship," the images were Public Domain. Anyone could use them.
If your marketing team is using GenAI to create your brand assets, do you realize you are building your brand on 'Open Source' land? You own nothing.
Section I: The Tactical Anatomy of "The Ghost Author"
The tactical failure was the "Efficiency Trap." The CMO optimized for speed and cost, bypassing the legal requirement for "Originality."
Under the Copyright Act, 1957, an "Author" must be a human or a legal person. An AI is neither. When the marketing team used raw AI outputs without significant manual editing (painting over, compositing), they created an asset with Zero IP Protection.
The "Tactical Incident" worsened when it was revealed that the prompts used to generate the images were leaked on a Discord server. The rival simply took the prompts and re-generated the assets.
This is the "Shadow IP" Crisis. Companies are filling their digital asset management (DAM) systems with terabytes of content that they legally cannot defend.
Does your Creative Agency contract specify 'Human Authorship'? If they are billing you for AI-generated work, they are selling you air.
Section II: The "Invisible" Blast Radius
The operational fallout is the "Brand Dilution." If your visual identity can be legally cloned by a dropshipper in Surat, your premium positioning evaporates. You lose the "Exclusivity Premium."
The "Founder’s Risk" is "Valuation Discount." During due diligence, IP auditors are now running "GenAI Detectors" on the company's creative assets. If your logo, mascot, or core UI elements are flagged as AI-generated, they are written down to Zero Value. You cannot secure a loan against IP you don't own.
The CFO faces a "Wasted Spend" scenario. The ₹50 Crore media buy was spent promoting visuals that the competitor can now use for free. You effectively subsidized your rival's marketing.
Section III: The Governance Playbook: The "Human Sandwich"
The solution is to re-inject the human into the loop to secure the copyright.
1. The "Significant Modification" Rule: Never use raw AI output. Mandate that every AI asset must be "Significantly Modified" by a human artist (at least 20% change) in Photoshop or After Effects. Keep the "Layer Files" as proof of human effort.
2. The "Prompt Secrecy" Protocol: Treat your high-performing Prompts as "Trade Secrets." Do not share them. If the image isn't copyrightable, at least the recipe (the prompt) can be protected as confidential know-how.
3. The "Hybrid" Contract: Update vendor contracts. Require agencies to disclose which tools were used. If AI is used, demand a lower fee (since they didn't create it) and a warranty that they have added enough "Human Touch" to make it copyrightable.
The Final Verdict
Generative AI is a photocopier, not an artist. If you use it to create your brand, you are printing flyers that anyone can copy. True value in 2026 comes from the "Human Delta"—the part of the work that the machine couldn't do. Protect that, or own nothing.
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