Judge pares down artists' AI copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, Stability AI; Reuters, October 30, 2023

 Blake Brittain, Reuters; Judge pares down artists' AI copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, Stability AI

"A judge in California federal court on Monday trimmed a lawsuit by visual artists who accuse Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt of misusing their copyrighted work in connection with the companies' generative artificial intelligence systems.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick dismissed some claims from the proposed class action brought by Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan and Karla Ortiz, including all of the allegations against Midjourney and DeviantArt. The judge said the artists could file an amended complaint against the two companies, whose systems utilize Stability's Stable Diffusion text-to-image technology." 

Music publishers sue Amazon-backed AI company over song lyrics; The Guardian, October 19, 2023

 Blake Montgomery and agencies, The Guardian; Music publishers sue Amazon-backed AI company over song lyrics

"Music publishers Universal Music, ABKCO and Concord Publishing sued the artificial intelligence company Anthropic in Tennessee federal court on Wednesday, accusing it of misusing “innumerable” copyrighted song lyrics to train its chatbot Claude.

The lawsuit said Anthropic violates the publishers’ rights through its use of lyrics from at least 500 songs ranging from the Beach Boys’ God Only Knows and the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk and Beyoncé’s Halo.

The lawsuit accused Anthropic of infringing the publishers’ copyrights by copying their lyrics without permission as part of the “massive amounts of text” that it scrapes from the internet to train Claude to respond to human prompts."

Scraping or Stealing? A Legal Reckoning Over AI Looms; Hollywood Reporter, August 22, 2023

Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter ; Scraping or Stealing? A Legal Reckoning Over AI Looms

"Engineers build AI art generators by feeding AI systems, known as large language models, voluminous databases of images downloaded from the internet without licenses. The artists’ suit revolves around the argument that the practice of feeding these systems copyrighted works constitutes intellectual property theft. A finding of infringement in the case may upend how most AI systems are built in the absence of regulation placing guardrails around the industry. If the AI firms are found to have infringed on any copyrights, they may be forced to destroy datasets that have been trained on copyrighted works. They also face stiff penalties of up to $150,000 for each infringement.

AI companies maintain that their conduct is protected by fair use, which allows for the utilization of copyrighted works without permission as long as that use is transformative. The doctrine permits unlicensed use of copyrighted works under limited circumstances. The factors that determine whether a work qualifies include the purpose of the use, the degree of similarity, and the impact of the derivative work on the market for the original. Central to the artists’ case is winning the argument that the AI systems don’t create works of “transformative use,” defined as when the purpose of the copyrighted work is altered to create something with a new meaning or message."

US judge finds flaws in artists' lawsuit against AI companies; Reuters, July 19, 2023

 Blake Brittain, Reuters; US judge finds flaws in artists' lawsuit against AI companies

"U.S. District Judge William Orrick said during a hearing in San Francisco on Wednesday that he was inclined to dismiss most of a lawsuit brought by a group of artists against generative artificial intelligence companies, though he would allow them to file a new complaint.

Orrick said that the artists should more clearly state and differentiate their claims against Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt, and that they should be able to "provide more facts" about the alleged copyright infringement because they have access to Stability's relevant source code."

Elon Musk called copyright a ‘plague on humanity’ and now he’s being sued for $250 million by music publishers who claim Twitter stole their content; Forbes, June 15, 2023

 RACHEL SHIN, Forbes; Elon Musk called copyright a ‘plague on humanity’ and now he’s being sued for $250 million by music publishers who claim Twitter stole their content

"A group of music companies is suing Twitter for over $250 million, claiming the platform has ignored many copyright violation notices. The coalition is composed of 17 music publishers, including such big names as Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Corp., and Big Machine Music. One problem for Elon Musk in defending the lawsuit is that he’s said he considers copyright a “plague on humanity.”"

Twitter sued for $250 million by music publishers over ‘massive’ copyright infringement; The Verge, June 14, 2023

Richard Lawler,, The Verge ; Twitter sued for $250 million by music publishers over ‘massive’ copyright infringement

"The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) is suing Twitter on behalf of 17 music publishers representing the biggest artists in the business. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Tennessee, claims the company "fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions, violating Publishers' and others' exclusive rights under copyright law." 

It also has a list of 1,700 or so songs (included below) that the publishers say have been included in multiple copyright notices to Twitter without the company doing anything about it, asking the court to fine Twitter up to $150,000 for each violation."

Art Basel banana artist prevails in copyright lawsuit; Axios, June 13, 2023

 Deirdra Funcheon, Axios; Art Basel banana artist prevails in copyright lawsuit

"The Art Basel banana did not rip off a similar work, a federal judge in Miami ruled last Friday.

What's happening: Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan famously taped a banana to a wall at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019, titled "Comedian," which sold for $120,000. 

• He was sued by California artist Joe Morford, creator of a 2001 work, "Banana and Orange," but prevailed in a case alleging copyright infringement.

The bottom line: Cattelan claimed he'd never seen Morford's work and was expanding off his own idea from 2018, when he'd depicted a banana with red duct tape for a cover of New York Magazine.

• In granting Cattelan's motion for summary judgment, Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. pointed to differences between the artworks, including the background and the angle at which the bananas were placed."

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck's production firm slams Donald Trump for misusing video; UPI, June 10, 2023

Adam Schrader , UPI; Matt Damon, Ben Affleck's production firm slams Donald Trump for misusing video

"Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's production company has slammed Donald Trump for violating its copyright after the former president shared a video that misused a monologue from their latest film, "Air."

Trump had shared a campaign video that used more than two minutes of Damon speaking as Sonny Vaccaro, the sports marketing executive behind Nike's Air Jordan shoe line."

Tolkien Estate Suing Author for LOTR Rip-Off; Kirkus, June 5, 2023

MICHAEL SCHAUB, Kirkus; Tolkien Estate Suing Author for LOTR Rip-Off

"J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate is suing an author who it claims ripped off the author’s Lord of the Ringsbooks, Bloomberg Law reports.

The Tolkien Trust filed suit against an author named Demetrious Polychron, who wrote a sequel to the author’s famous series called The Fellowship of the King. The title references The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King, respectively the first and third installments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy."

Danish Supreme Court says newspaper did not violate copyright of Little Mermaid statue; AP, May 17, 2023

AP ; Danish Supreme Court says newspaper did not violate copyright of Little Mermaid statue

"Denmark’s Supreme Court on Wednesday overruled two lower courts, saying a cartoon depicting Copenhagen’s The Little Mermaid statue as a zombie and a photo of it with a face mask did not violate the copyright of the famous bronze...

Copenhagen’s district court and the Eastern High Court found in 2020 and 2022 that the cartoon and the photo were infringements of the Danish Copyright Act, and ordered the newspaper — one of Denmark’s largest — to pay the heirs of Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen thousands of kroner in compensation.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court said “that neither the caricature drawing nor the photograph of The Little Mermaid with a mask on, which was brought to Berlingske in connection with newspaper articles, infringed the copyright of the heirs to the sculpture The Little Mermaid...

The heirs are rigorous in enforcing the copyright to the sculpture, which runs until 2029, 70 years after Eriksen’s 1959 death. Several publications have been charged with copyright infringement over the years after publishing pictures of the artwork."

Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Case Over Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’; The New York Times, May 4, 2023

 Ben Sisario, The New York Times;  Ed Sheeran Wins Copyright Case Over Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’

"A federal jury found on Thursday that the pop singer Ed Sheeran did not copy Marvin Gaye’s classic “Let’s Get It On” for his 2014 hit “Thinking Out Loud,” in the music industry’s highest-profile copyright case in years...

Besides Mr. Sheeran, the defendants included his label, Atlantic Records, and his publisher, Sony Music Publishing.

For the wider music industry, Mr. Sheeran’s victory preserves a status quo about copyright. After the disruption of the “Blurred Lines” case, many commentators viewed Led Zeppelin’s win as steering copyright cases back into more familiar territory. Katy Perry and her collaborators on the song “Dark Horse” were immediate beneficiaries of that ruling.

Last year, after successfully defending himself in Britain in an infringement case involving his hit “Shape of You,” Mr. Sheeran released a video on social media. “There’s only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music,” he said. “Coincidence is bound to happen if 60,000 are being released every day on Spotify.”"

Artist Outraged at 'Plagiarism' of His Sculpture in China; Associated Press via New York Times, 8/12/15

Associated Press via New York Times; Artist Outraged at 'Plagiarism' of His Sculpture in China:

"Renowned artist Anish Kapoor has expressed outrage about the appearance of a sculpture in China that appears identical to his "Cloud Gate" in Chicago.

Representatives of the British-Indian sculptor said Wednesday he was shocked at the "blatant plagiarism" of his sculpture, a giant, mirrored piece displayed in Chicago's Millennium Park that reflects the city's skyline...

"It seems that in China today it is permissible to steal the creativity of others," he said. "I hope that the Mayor of Chicago will join me in this action. The Chinese authorities must act to stop this kind of infringement and allow the full enforcement of copyright.""

Beastie Boys call for sampling lawsuit to be dismissed; Guardian, 11/29/12

Sean Michaels, Guardian; Beastie Boys call for sampling lawsuit to be dismissed: "In the Beastie Boys' response to the lawsuit, filed on Monday, they questioned the two-decade gap between their albums' release and TufAmerica's complaint. "Plaintiff is attempting to sidestep the Copyright Act's three-year statute of limitations," their lawyers wrote, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Although TufAmerica argued that the samples are "concealed … [to] the casual listener" and were only detectable "after conducting a careful audio analysis", the hip-hop crew said this means their work is sufficiently different and they should be exempt from damages."