AI-Generated Works and Algeria’s IP Law: What Law 03-05 Says and What Startups Must Do Now

What Algeria’s Copyright Law Actually Says About Authorship

Algeria’s primary intellectual property instrument is Ordinance No. 03-05 of July 19, 2003, relating to Copyright and Neighboring Rights, as amended and supplemented by Law No. 10-05 of August 16, 2010. The law is administered by the Office National des Droits d’Auteur et Droits Voisins (ONDA). According to the EU Intellectual Property Helpdesk’s Algeria country fiche, protection under Law 03-05 is granted to “each original innovator of a literary or artistic work” — a formulation that centers human creative authorship as the foundational requirement.

The law explicitly excludes from protection “ideas, concepts, principles, approaches, techniques, working procedures and patterns associated with intellectual work creation themselves.” It protects expression, not underlying mechanics. The consequence of this structure for AI-generated works is significant: a work generated entirely by an AI system has no identifiable “original innovator” in the human sense the law contemplates. There is no explicit provision for works where the creative contribution came from a model rather than a person.

This gap is not unique to Algeria — the US Copyright Office has similarly held since 2023 that purely AI-generated content cannot receive copyright protection, and the UK has its own AI authorship provisions under Section 9(3) of its Copyright Act. But unlike those jurisdictions, Algeria has not yet issued regulatory guidance clarifying how Law 03-05 applies to AI-assisted versus AI-generated outputs. The distinction matters commercially: a developer who uses GitHub Copilot to complete 30% of a codebase is in a different position from one who generates an entire module via a generative AI system with no human creative input.

The Three Categories That Determine Your IP Position

The practical framework for Algerian startups is to classify AI-generated outputs into three categories, each with a different legal posture:

Human-authored with AI assistance: The human developer or designer makes the creative decisions, directs the AI tool, selects among outputs, and substantially modifies the result. Under Law 03-05’s “original innovator” standard, this output is most defensibly human-authored. The AI is analogous to a sophisticated tool (like Photoshop or an IDE). ONDA registration for such works is straightforward and recommended.

AI-generated with human selection: The AI system generates multiple options and a human selects the best. This is a grey zone. Some jurisdictions treat human curation as sufficient creative contribution; Algeria’s law does not address this category. Until ONDA or a Conseil d’État ruling clarifies the position, startups in this category should document the human selection process and the criteria used — this creates a record of human creative judgment that may support authorship claims.

Fully autonomous AI generation: The AI generates output without meaningful human creative direction or selection. Under any reasonable reading of Law 03-05, this category likely produces unprotected output — material that cannot be registered at ONDA and cannot be enforced as proprietary IP against competitors who copy it. Startups relying on fully autonomous AI generation for commercially critical outputs face the highest IP exposure.

What Algerian Founders and CTOs Should Do About the Gap

1. Register Human-Authored AI-Assisted Works at ONDA Immediately

ONDA registration for works with demonstrable human creative contribution is available today and provides the strongest available protection under current law. The US Trade Representative’s Algeria IP report notes that while Algeria’s enforcement record has historically been uneven, ONDA registration creates the legal record required for any future infringement action. For SaaS companies whose codebase, UX design, or content represents primary commercial value, the cost of ONDA registration (relatively modest for the protection it provides) is justified even under an uncertain AI authorship framework.

The practical step: review your product’s IP inventory and classify each component by the three-category framework above. Register the human-authored and human-assisted components at ONDA now. Document the AI-generated components separately, with process records showing the generation methodology.

2. Use Trade Secret Protection for Fully AI-Generated Outputs

Algeria’s commercial law framework — including Law 18-07’s data security provisions and general civil law protections — supports trade secret claims for confidential business information. Fully AI-generated outputs that cannot be protected by copyright can still be protected as trade secrets if they are maintained as confidential, if reasonable steps are taken to preserve their confidentiality, and if they derive commercial value from not being publicly known.

For Algerian startups, the practical steps are: restrict access to AI-generated model weights, training data, and output pipelines to essential personnel; implement confidentiality agreements (NDAs) with employees and contractors that explicitly cover AI-generated outputs; and document the commercial value of the confidential outputs. This protection is not as strong as copyright — trade secret protection ends when the secret is independently discovered or legitimately reverse-engineered — but it is available today without waiting for legislative clarification.

3. Build Contract-Based IP Chains for Client Deliverables

If your startup delivers AI-generated content, code, or designs to clients, the IP ownership question becomes bilateral: who owns the output, the startup or the client? Without a contractual framework, Algerian civil law defaults may not produce the outcome either party expects. Law 03-05 does not have specific work-for-hire provisions comparable to US copyright law — the law’s provisions on employer-created works (Articles dealing with works created in employment) apply to employed human authors, not AI-generated outputs.

The DLA Piper data protection guide for Algeria emphasizes that Algerian contract law provides significant flexibility for parties to agree on IP allocation. Startup service agreements should include explicit provisions stating: what IP the startup retains in its AI tools and models; what IP passes to the client in the delivered output; what warranties the startup makes about the originality and freedom-to-operate of AI-generated deliverables; and what indemnities apply if a third party claims rights in AI-generated content used in the deliverable.

4. Monitor the National AI Strategy’s Regulatory Framework Pillar

Algeria’s National AI Council formally adopted the National AI Strategy in December 2024, identifying data protection and regulatory framework development as a distinct strategic pillar. The strategy proposes expanding the Personal Data Protection Agency’s (ANPDP) role to include AI governance oversight and developing a legal framework specifically governing AI — which would presumably address IP ownership for AI outputs. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy and Startups is the primary institutional home for this work.

Algerian startup associations — including the Conseil National du Numérique and the startup ecosystem networks that emerged from the Startup Act of 2020 — have standing to participate in consultation processes for this regulatory framework. A coordinated private-sector submission on AI-generated IP treatment, drawing on emerging international standards (the WIPO AI and IP study series, the EU AI Act’s treatment of GPAI training data), would ensure that the forthcoming Algerian AI governance framework reflects the practical realities of startup product development rather than being written purely from an administrative law perspective.

The Structural Lesson: Legal Grey Zones Are Manageable, Not Paralyzing

The absence of explicit Algerian legal provisions for AI-generated works does not mean startups must stop using AI tools. It means the IP management strategy must be more deliberate. International comparisons are instructive: Singapore’s Copyright Act explicitly grants copyright in computer-generated works to the person who causes the work to be created — a provision that has existed since 1987. The UK similarly has Section 9(3) provisions. These jurisdictions chose to extend protection rather than leave a gap.

Algeria’s forthcoming AI governance framework is an opportunity to make a deliberate policy choice rather than inherit an ambiguous one. In the interim, the three-track approach — ONDA registration for human-creative outputs, trade secret for AI-autonomous outputs, and contract-based allocation for client deliverables — provides a workable IP framework that reduces exposure without requiring legislative change. The startups that implement this framework now, with documented processes and registered IP where available, will be best positioned when the regulatory clarity arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources & Further Reading

• IP Country Fiche Algeria — EU Intellectual Property Helpdesk
• Algeria — Protecting Intellectual Property — US Trade Representative
• Algeria National AI Strategy — Digital Policy Alert
• DLA Piper Data Protection Guide: Algeria
• DPA Digital Digest: Algeria — Digital Policy Alert
• Copyrights Law in Algeria — Lawgratis