Beware of Copyright Scams: How to Spot Fraud and Protect Yourself; Library of Congress Blogs, Copyright Creativity at Work, February 5, 2025

George Thuronyi, Library of Congress Blogs, Copyright Creativity at Work; Beware of Copyright Scams: How to Spot Fraud and Protect Yourself

"Fraud exists in many forms, and the copyright arena is no exception. Creators, businesses, and members of the public engage online with copyright law, registration systems, and licensing practices. Bad actors sometimes exploit misunderstandings about how copyright works and how the U.S. Copyright Office operates. Scams involving copyright can be convincing, costly, and stressful, but knowing how they work is the first step toward avoiding them.

This post explains the U.S. Copyright Office’s role, describes common types of copyright-related fraud, outlines why these schemes are harmful, and offers practical steps to take if you suspect fraud."

When AI and IP Collide: What Journalists Need to Know; National Press Foundation (NPF), January 22, 2026

National Press Foundation (NPF); When AI and IP Collide: What Journalists Need to Know

"With roughly 70 federal lawsuits waged against AI developers, the intersection of technology and intellectual property is now one of the most influential legal beats. Courts are jumping in to define the future of “fair use.” To bridge the gap between complex legal proceedings and the public’s understanding, NPF held a webinar to unpack these intellectual property battles. One thing all of the expert panelists agreed on: most cases are either an issue of input – i.e. what the AI models pull in to train on – or output – what AI generates, as in the case of Disney and other Hollywood studios v. Midjourney.

“The behavior here of AI companies and the assertion of fair use is completely understandable in our market capitalist system – all players want something very simple. They want their inputs for little or nothing and their outputs to be very expensive,” said Loyola Law professor Justin Hughes. “The fair use argument is all about AI companies wanting their inputs to be free, just like ranchers want their grazing land from the federal government to be free or their mining rights to be free.” AI Copyright Cases Journalists Should Know: Bartz et al. v. Anthropic: Anthropic reached a $1.5 billion settlement in a landmark case for the industry after a class of book authors accused the company of using pirated books to train the Claude AI model. “The mere training itself may be fair use, but the retention of these large copy data sets and their replication or your training from having taken pirated data sets, that’s not fair use,” Hughes explained. The NYT Company v. Microsoft Corporation et al.: This is a massive multi-district litigation in New York where the NYT is suing OpenAI. The Times has pushed for discovery into over 20 million private ChatGPT logs to prove that this model is being used to get past paywalls. Advance Local Media LLC et al. v. Cohere Inc.: The case against the startup Cohere is particularly vital for newsrooms as a judge ruled that AI-generated summaries infringe of news organizations’ ability to get traffic on their sites. “We’ve seen, there’s been a lot of developers who have taken the kind of classic Silicon Valley approach of ask forgiveness rather than permission,” said Terry Hart, general counsel of the Association of American Publishers. “They have gone ahead and trained a lot of models using a lot of copyrighted works without authorization.” Tech companies have trained massive models to ingest the entirety of the internet, including articles, without prior authorization, and Hughes points out that this is a repeated occurrence. AI companies often keep unauthorized copies of these vast datasets to retrain and tweak their models, leading to multiple steps of reproduction that could violate copyright. AI and U.S. Innovation A common defense from tech companies in Silicon Valley is that using these vast amounts of data is necessary to U.S. innovation and keeping the economy competitive. “‘We need to beat China, take our word for it, this is going to be great, and we’re just going to cut out a complete sector of the economy that’s critical to the success of our models,'” Hart said. “In the long run, that’s not good for innovation. It’s not good for the creative sectors and it’s not good for the AI sector.” Reuters technology reporter Deepa Seetharaman has also heard the China competition argument, among others. “The metaphor that I’ll hear a lot here is, ‘it’s like somebody visiting a library and reading every book, except this is a system that can remember every book and remember all the pieces of every book. And so why are you … harming us for developing something that’s so capable?'” Seetharaman said. Hughes noted that humans are not walking into a library with a miniature high-speed photocopier to memorize every book. Humans don’t memorize with the “faithful” precision of a machine. Hart added that the metaphor breaks down because technology has created a new market space that isn’t comparable to a human reader. Speakers:

• Wayne Brough, Resident Senior Fellow, Technology and Innovation Team, R Street
• Terry Hart, General Counsel, Association of American Publishers
• Justin Hughes, Honorable William Matthew Byrne Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola Marymount University
• Deepa Seetharaman, Tech Correspondent, Reuters

Summary and transcript: https://nationalpress.org/topic/when-... This event is sponsored by The Copyright Alliance and NSG Next Solutions Group. This video was produced within the Evelyn Y. Davis studios. NPF is solely responsible for the content."

Copyright and creativity in Episode 2 of the EUIPO Podcast; European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), January 28, 2026

European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO); Copyright and creativity in Episode 2 of the EUIPO Podcast

"Copyright and creativity in Episode 2 of the EUIPO Podcast

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has released the second episode of its podcast series ‘Creative Sparks: From inspiration to innovation’, focusing on copyright and the launch of the EUIPO Copyright Knowledge Centre.

Titled “The idea makers: Europe’s new home for copyright”, the episode looks at how copyright supports creativity across Europe. From music, film and publishing to design, digital content and emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence.

It brings together institutional and creator perspectives through two guests: Véronique Delforge, copyright legal expert at the EUIPO, and Nathalie Boyer, actress, voice-over artist, Board member of ADAMI and President of the ADAMI Foundation for the Citizen Artist. They discuss creative innovation, why copyright remains essential in a rapidly evolving creative landscape and how creators can better understand and exercise their rights.

The conversation highlights the growing complexity of copyright in a digital and cross-border environment, the specific challenges faced by performers and cultural organisations, and the need for clarity, transparency and trusted information. Particular attention is given to the impact of streaming platforms and generative AI on creative works, authorship and remuneration.

The episode also introduces the EUIPO Copyright Knowledge Centre, launched to bring together reliable information, research, tools and resources in one place.

Making IP closer

The podcast is part of the EUIPO’s determination to make intellectual property more accessible to all and engaging for Europeans, businesses and creators.

The EUIPO will issue monthly episodes and explore topics related to creativity and intellectual property as a tool to foster innovation and enhance competitiveness in EU in the digital era, among many others."

Actors And Musicians Help Launch “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” Campaign To Protest Big Tech’s Use Of Copyrighted Works In AI Models; Deadline, January 22, 2026

Ted Johnson , Deadline; Actors And Musicians Help Launch “Stealing Isn’t Innovation” Campaign To Protest Big Tech’s Use Of Copyrighted Works In AI Models

"A long list of musicians, content creators and actors are among those who have signed on to a new campaign to protest tech giants’ use of copyrighted works in their AI models.

The list of signees includes actors like Scarlett Johansson and Cate Blanchett, music groups like REM and authors like Brad Meltzer. 

The ‘Stealing Isn’t Innovation” campaign is being led by the Human Artistry Campaign. It states that “respect and protect” the Creative community, “some of the biggest tech companies, many backed by private equity and other funders, are using American creators’ work to build AI platforms without authorization or regard for copyright law.”"

FREE WEBINAR: REGISTER: AI, Intellectual Property and the Emerging Legal Landscape; National Press Foundation, Thursday, January 22, 2026

National Press Foundation; REGISTER: AI, Intellectual Property and the Emerging Legal Landscape

"Artificial intelligence is colliding with U.S. copyright law in ways that could reshape journalism, publishing, software, and the creative economy.

The intersection of AI and intellectual property has become one of the most consequential legal battles of the digital age, with roughly 70 federal lawsuits filed against AI companies and copyright claims on works ranging from literary and visual work to music and sound recording to computer programs. Billions of dollars are at stake.

Courts are now deciding what constitutes “fair use,” whether and how AI companies may use copyrighted material to build models, what licensing is required, and who bears responsibility when AI outputs resemble protected works. The legal decisions will shape how news, art, and knowledge are produced — and who gets paid for them.

To help journalists better understand and report on the developing legal issues of AI and IP, join the National Press Foundation and a panel of experts for a wide-ranging discussion around the stakes, impact and potential solutions. Experts in technology and innovation as well as law and economics join journalists in this free online briefing 12-1 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 22, 2026."

‘A nasty little song, really rather evil’: how Every Breath You Take tore Sting and the Police apart; The Guardian, January 15, 2026

Ben Beaumont-Thomas, The Guardian; ‘A nasty little song, really rather evil’: how Every Breath You Take tore Sting and the Police apart

"This week’s high court hearings between Sting and his former bandmates in the Police, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers, are the latest chapter in the life of a song whose negative energy seems to have seeped out into real life.

Every Breath You Take is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Copeland and Summers against Sting, alleging that he owes them royalties linked to their contributions to the hugely popular song, particularly from streaming earnings, estimated at $2m (£1.5m) in total. Sting’s legal team have countered that previous agreements between him and his bandmates regarding their royalties from the song do not include streaming revenue – and argued in pre-trial documents that the pair may have been “substantially overpaid”. In the hearing’s opening day, it was revealed that since the lawsuit was filed, Sting has paid them $870,000 (£647,000) to redress what his lawyer called “certain admitted historic underpayments”. But there are still plenty of future potential earnings up for debate."

Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again; The Guardian, January 10, 2026

 Cory Doctorow, The Guardian ; Trump may be the beginning of the end for ‘enshittification’ – this is our chance to make tech good again

"Until we repeal the anti-circumvention law, we can’t reverse-engineer the US’s cloud software, whether it’s a database, a word processor or a tractor, in order to swap out proprietary, American code for robust, open, auditable alternatives that will safeguard our digital sovereignty. The same goes for any technology tethered to servers operated by any government that might have interests adverse to ours – say, the solar inverters and batteries we buy from China.

This is the state of play at the dawn of 2026. The digital rights movement has two powerful potential coalition partners in the fight to reclaim the right of people to change how their devices work, to claw back privacy and a fair deal from tech: investors and national security hawks.

Admittedly, the door is only open a crack, but it’s been locked tight since the turn of the century. When it comes to a better technology future, “open a crack” is the most exciting proposition I’ve heard in decades."

U.S. Copyright Office Announces Webinar on Copyright Essentials for Filmmakers; U.S. Copyright Office, January 8, 2026

U.S. Copyright Office ; U.S. Copyright Office Announces Webinar on Copyright Essentials for Filmmakers

"The U.S. Copyright Office invites you to register to attend the upcoming online webinar, Lights, Camera, Action: Copyright Essentials for Filmmakers, on February 4 at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. This event continues our educational series designed to teach copyright basics and key concepts to creators within various disciplines.

In this session, join us as the Copyright Office discusses what filmmakers, including producers, directors, and screenwriters, should know about copyright. We will answer commonly asked questions, review educational resources and registration options, and share how the Copyright Office’s Public Information Office can assist along the way. 

Speakers:

• Miriam Lord, Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education
• Laura Kaiser, Attorney-Advisor, Office of Public Information and Education"

‘Twitter never left:’ X sues Operation Bluebird for trademark infringement; The Verge, December 16, 2025

Emma Roth , The Verge; ‘Twitter never left:’ X sues Operation Bluebird for trademark infringement

"X Corp. is suing Operation Bluebird, a recently-announced startup that aims to reclaim the Twitter brand for a new social network. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, the Elon Musk-owned company alleges Operation Bluebird is “brazenly attempting to steal” Twitter’s trademarks, claiming “Twitter never left and continues to be exclusively owned by X Corp.”

Last week, Operation Bluebird filed a petition asking the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel X Corp.’s ownership of the “Twitter” and “Tweet” trademarks. It alleged X Corp. “legally abandoned its rights” to Twitter’s brand with “no intention to resume use.” At the same time, Operation Bluebird filed a trademark application for Twitter as part of plans to launch a new site, called Twitter.new."

These notable works are officially in the public domain as 2026 arrives; CBS News, January 1, 2026

Leo Rocha, CBS News; These notable works are officially in the public domain as 2026 arrives

"List of popular intellectual property entering the public domain in 2026

The year 2026 marks the first time that copyrighted books, films, songs and art published in the '30s enter the U.S. public domain. As of Jan. 1, protections have expired for published works from 1930 and sound recordings from 1925.

Here are some of the most notable works that are now available for free use by anyone:

• "The Murder at the Vicarage" by Agatha Christie, the first novel featuring elderly amateur detective Miss Marple.
• "The Secret of the Old Clock" by Carolyn Keene, the first appearance of teen detective Nancy Drew, and three follow-ups.
• "The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper.
• Fleischer Studios' "Dizzy Dishes," the first cartoon in which Betty Boop appears.
• Disney's "The Chain Gang" and "The Picnic," both depicting the earliest versions of Mickey's dog Pluto.
• The initial four months of "Blondie" comic strips by Chic Young, featuring the earliest iterations of the titular character and her then-boyfriend, Dagwood.
• The film "All Quiet on the Western Front," directed by Lewis Milestone, Best Picture winner at the 3rd Academy Awards.
• "King of Jazz," directed by John Murray Anderson, Bing Crosby's first appearance in a feature film.
• "Animal Crackers," directed by Victor Heerman and starring the Marx Brothers.
• "The Big Trail," directed by Raoul Walsh, John Wayne's first turn as leading man.
• "But Not For Me," music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin.
• "Georgia on My Mind," music by Hoagy Carmichael, lyrics by Stuart Gorrell.
• "Dream a Little Dream of Me," music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, lyrics by Gus Kahn.
• "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight," music by Al Sherman, lyrics by Al Lewis.
• Piet Mondrian's painting, "Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow.""

The IP Legislation That Shaped 2025 and Prospects for the New Year; IP Watchdog, December 29, 2025

 BARRY SCHINDLER , IP Watchdog; The IP Legislation That Shaped 2025 and Prospects for the New Year

"As 2025 draws to a close, the intellectual property ecosystem faces a wave of transformative changes driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and evolving legislative priorities. From sweeping federal proposals aimed at harmonizing AI governance and overriding state laws, to new copyright and media integrity measures designed to address deepfakes and transparency, and finally to renewed momentum behind patent eligibility and Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) reform, these developments signal a pivotal moment for innovators, rights holders, and policymakers alike. This article explores three critical fronts shaping the future of IP: federal AI legislation and executive preemption, copyright accountability and media integrity, and the year-end outlook for patent reform—each redefining the balance between innovation, protection, and compliance."

Can You Reboot a Lamp Like a Superhero Franchise?; The New York Times, December 28, 2025

David McCabe , The New York Times; Can You Reboot a Lamp Like a Superhero Franchise?

"Sometimes, Form buys the intellectual property outright. In other cases, it acts as a manager for the heirs and takes a generous cut of the royalties when it successfully gets their ancestor’s work back into production.

It’s not unheard-of for high-end furniture manufacturers to revive old designs. But Form’s hope is to build those comebacks at a different scale. It has licensed around 800 products from the archives of its designers since its founding in 2016, and the products it sells are often sold to consumers at relatively accessible prices."

74 suicide warnings and 243 mentions of hanging: What ChatGPT said to a suicidal teen; The Washington Post, December 27, 2025

  

Nitasha Tiku

 and 

Kevin Schaul

, The Washington Post; 74 suicide warnings and 243 mentions of hanging: What ChatGPT said to a suicidal teen

"The Raines’ lawsuit alleges that OpenAI caused Adam’s death by distributing ChatGPT to minors despite knowing it could encourage psychological dependency and suicidal ideation. His parents were the first of five families to file wrongful-death lawsuits against OpenAI in recent months, alleging that the world’s most popular chatbot had encouraged their loved ones to kill themselves. A sixth suit filed this month alleges that ChatGPT led a man to kill his mother before taking his own life.

None of the cases have yet reached trial, and the full conversations users had with ChatGPT in the weeks and months before they died are not public. But in response to requests from The Post, the Raine family’s attorneys shared analysis of Adam’s account that allowed reporters to chart the escalation of one teenager’s relationship with ChatGPT during a mental health crisis."

AI Will Continue to Dominate California IP Litigation in 2026; Bloomberg Law, December 26, 2025

 

Annelise Levy

, Bloomberg Law; AI Will Continue to Dominate California IP Litigation in 2026

"Lawsuits against AI giants OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity are set to continue headlining intellectual property developments in California federal courts in 2026.

In the coming months, we’ll see decisions in two key cases: whether Anthropic PBC’s historic $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors will receive final approval and if music publishers’ separate copyright lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company will head to trial in September.

Here’s a closer look at the California legal battles that could redefine the landscape of IP law next year."

Vince Gilligan Talks About His Four-Season Plan for 'Pluribus' (And Why He's Done With 'Breaking Bad'); Esquire, December 23, 2025

 Johnny Davis , Esquire; Vince Gilligan Talks About His Four-Season Plan for 'Pluribus' (And Why He's Done With 'Breaking Bad')

"How many times have you been asked whether the show is about AI?

I’ve been asked a fair bit about AI. It’s interesting because I came up with this story going on ten years ago, and this was before the advent of ChatGPT. So I can’t say I was thinking about this current thing they call AI, which, by the way, feels like a marketing tool to me, because there’s no intelligence there. It’s a really amazing bit of sleight of hand that makes it look like the act of creation is occurring, but really it’s just taking little bits and pieces from a hundred other sources and cobbling them together. There’s no consciousness there. I personally am not a big fan of what passes for AI now. I don’t wish to see it take over the world. I don’t wish to see it subvert the creative process for human beings. But in full disclosure, I was not thinking about it specifically when I came up with this.

Even so, when AI entered the mainstream conversation, you must have seen the resonance.

Yeah. When ChatGPT came out, I was basically appalled. But yeah, I probably was thinking, wow, maybe there’s some resonance with this show...

Breaking Bad famously went from the brink of cancellation to being hailed as one of the greatest television series of all time. Did that experience change how you approached making Pluribus?

It allowed us to make it. It really did. People have asked me recently, are you proud of the fact that you got an original show, a non IP-derived show on the air? And I say: I am proud of that, and I feel lucky, but it also makes me sad. Because I think, why is it so hard to get a show that is not based on pre-existing intellectual property made?"

I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began; The Guardian, December 4, 2025

Yasmin Khan, The Guardian ; I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began

"Vegetables, in my experience, rarely cause controversy. Yet last month I found myself in the middle of a legal storm over who gets to own the word sabzi – the Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Dari and Pashto word for cooked veg or fresh greens. It was a story as absurd as it was stressful, a chain of delis threatened me with legal action over the title of a book I had spent years creating. But what began as a personal legal headache soon morphed into something bigger, a story about how power and privilege still dominate conversations about cultural ownership in the UK.

When the email first landed in my inbox, I assumed it must be a wind-up. My editor at Bloomsbury had forwarded a solicitor’s letter addressed to me personally, care of my publishers. As I read it, my stomach dropped. A deli owner from Cornwall accused me of infringing her intellectual property over my cookbook Sabzi: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes for Every Day. Why? Because in 2022, she had trademarked the word sabzi to use for her business and any future products, including a cookbook she hoped to write one day.

My jaw clenched as I pored over pages of legal documentation, written in the punitive and aggressive tone of a firm gearing up for a fight. I was accused of “misrepresentation” (copying the deli’s brand), damaging its business and affecting its future growth, and they demanded detailed commercial reports about my work, including sales revenue, stock numbers and distribution contracts – information so intrusive that it felt like an audit. Buried in the legal jargon was a line that shook me. They reserved the right to seek the “destruction” of all items relating to their infringement claim. Reading the threat of my book being pulped was nothing short of devastating. It was also utterly enraging.

Because sabzi isn’t some cute exotic brand name, it’s part of the daily lexicon of more than a billion people across cultures and borders. In south Asia, it simply means cooked vegetables."

(Podcast) The Briefing: What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter? (Featured); JDSupra, December 5, 2025

Richard Buckley, Jr. and Scott Hervey, JDSupra ; (Podcast) The Briefing: What Is Fair Use and Why Does It Matter? (Featured)

"Creators, beware: just because it’s online doesn’t mean it’s fair game. In this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and Richard Buckley break down one of the most misunderstood areas of copyright law—fair use.

In this featured episode, they cover:

- What makes a use “transformative”?

- Why credit alone doesn’t protect you

- How recent court rulings (Warhol v. Goldsmith) are changing the game

- Tips to stay on the right side of the law"

The Disney-OpenAI tie-up has huge implications for intellectual property; Fast Company, December 11, 2025

CHRIS STOKEL-WALKER, Fast Company ; The Disney-OpenAI tie-up has huge implications for intellectual property

"Walt Disney and OpenAI make for very odd bedfellows: The former is one of the most-recognized brands among children under the age of 18. The near-$200 billion company’s value has been derived from more than a century of aggressive safeguarding of its intellectual property and keeping the magic alive among innocent children.

OpenAI, which celebrated its first decade of existence this week, is best known for upending creativity, the economy, and society with its flagship product, ChatGPT. And in the last two months, it has said it wants to get to a place where its adult users can use its tech to create erotica.

So what the hell should we make of a just-announced deal between the two that will allow ChatGPT and Sora users to create images and videos of more than 200 characters, from Mickey and Minnie Mouse to the Mandalorian, starting from early 2026?"

The Disney-OpenAI Deal Redefines the AI Copyright War; Wired, December 11, 2025

BRIAN BARRETT, Wired; The Disney-OpenAI Deal Redefines the AI Copyright War

 "“I think that AI companies and copyright holders are beginning to understand and become reconciled to the fact that neither side is going to score an absolute victory,” says Matthew Sag, a professor of law and artificial intelligence at Emory University. While many of these cases are still working their way through the courts, so far it seems like model inputs—the training data that these models learn from—are covered by fair use. But this deal is about outputs—what the model returns based on your prompt—where IP owners like Disney have a much stronger case

Coming to an output agreement resolves a host of messy, potentially unsolvable issues. Even if a company tells an AI model not to produce, say, Elsa at a Wendy’s drive-through, the model might know enough about Elsa to do so anyway—or a user might be able to prompt their way into making Elsa without asking for the character by name. It’s a tension that legal scholars call the “Snoopy problem,” but in this case you might as well call it the Disney problem.

“Faced with this increasingly clear reality, it makes sense for consumer-facing AI companies and entertainment giants like Disney to think about licensing arrangements,” says Sag."

Has Cambridge-based AI music upstart Suno 'gone legit'?; WBUR, December 11, 2025

Tiziana Dearing 

Rob Lane

, WBUR ; Has Cambridge-based AI music upstart Suno 'gone legit'?

"The Cambridge-based AI music company Suno, which has been besieged by lawsuits from record labels, is now teaming up with behemoth label Warner Music. Under a new partnership, Warner will license music in its catalogue for use by Suno's AI.

Copyright law experts Peter Karol and Bhamati Viswanathan join WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss what the deal between Suno and Warner Music means for the future of intellectual property."