Can a different person copy the style of copyrighted work so closely that it violates the copyright of the original artist? I feel like this is a question that must be answered before we add AI into the discussion.
I think one of the problems is that it is fuzzy. If we can't draw the line with humans, AI is going to increase the scale of the problem. Now, instead of a few artists getting close to the fuzzy area of acceptable or not and being able to be judged partially on intention, AI allows for magnitudes more to get into the fuzzy area. Perhaps we were too lax in allowing the fuzzy to remain fuzzy due to such a low number of cases, but now technology has increased the intrusions into this fuzzy space far faster than the law can keep up.
It’s a good question and I do not believe a style has ever been found to be copyrightable, only actual works.
Styles would seem to be more in the trade dress / design patent side of IP law. Apple’s famous 22-element iPhone design patent, etc.
But it’s hard to imagine an artist reducing their style to clearly defined elements and applying for protection. “A geometric grid or squares and rectangles with white background and black lines extending entirely across the canvas horizontally and vertically. Some grid rectangles are filled in primary colors. The square intersections of two black grid lines may be filled in primary colors. At least some of the grid lines are spaced irregularly”
