Ethics of selling a classifier trained on open data

I think the question that should be answered here is: is a machine learning model that is trained on a particular dataset a derivative work of that dataset? If yes, then the rights holders of the dataset get to determine whether you can or cannot sell such a classifier.

And if they’re not considered derivative works, could a license on a dataset legally prevent you from making machine learning models using that dataset?

I recently read an article that people are starting to test the legalities of these kinds of things. It seems like the lawyers have discovered deep learning too. :wink:

(BTW, I’m currently selling a specific implementation of machine learning models (using Metal on iOS), which include pre-trained weights made from ImageNet. But in my case the thing I’m selling is not the trained weights but the code that is needed to run them.)

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