Celebrating World IP Day 2026: Sports, Innovation and Intellectual Property; JDSupra, April 24, 2026

Baker,Hostetler, Jeffrey Lyons, JDSupra; Celebrating World IP Day 2026: Sports, Innovation and Intellectual Property

"Another year, another opportunity to celebrate intellectual property (IP) on World Intellectual Property Day! This year, the World Intellectual Property Organization turns the global spotlight on “IP and Sports: Ready, Set, Innovate,” highlighting how IP rights support innovation, creativity and investment in sports...

As sports continue to intersect with artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, immersive media and global brands, IP considerations will only grow in importance. World IP Day is a reminder that innovation does not happen in isolation; it depends on legal structures that reward creativity while enabling responsible growth.

Happy World IP Day 2026!"

Decoding the 2026 White House AI Blueprint: U.S. AI Policy Starts to Take Shape; ReedSmith, March 24, 2026

Tristan J. Albrecht, ReedSmith; Decoding the 2026 White House AI Blueprint: U.S. AI Policy Starts to Take Shape

"The White House's March 2026, National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence highlights a central tension: while AI adoption is accelerating, the United States still lacks a comprehensive federal AI regulatory regime. The framework sets out legislative recommendations aimed at balancing innovation, economic growth, and risk mitigation, while proposing federal preemption of state laws that “impose undue burdens" or undermine the national strategy to achieve “global AI dominance”.

The White House framework focuses on seven priority areas:...

Intellectual Property: A measured approach that defers key copyright questions, whether AI training on copyrighted material constitutes fair use in the courts. The Administration states it “believe that training of AI models on copyrighted material does not violate copyright laws” but supports judicial resolution. The framework also contemplates collective licensing frameworks and protections against unauthorized digital replicas of individuals’ voice or likeness...

As AI capabilities rapidly evolve, the White House framework signals a federal preference for light-touch regulation and industry standards over rigid compliance mandates in clear contrast to approaches like the EU AI Act. In the absence of comprehensive legislation, organizations must continue navigating a dynamic and fragmented regulatory landscape, with careful attention to how preemption may reshape the field."

Devious New AI Tool “Clones” Software So That the Original Creator Doesn’t Hold a Copyright Over the New Version; Futurism, April 26, 2026

Victor Tangermann , Futurism; Devious New AI Tool “Clones” Software So That the Original Creator Doesn’t Hold a Copyright Over the New Version

"The advent of generative AI continues to undermine the very concept of copyright, from entire books shamelessly ripping off authors to tasteless AI slop depicting beloved characters going viral on social media. The sin is foundational: all today’s popular AI tools were built by pillaging copyrighted material without permission.

Even software isn’t safe. As 404 Media reports, a new tool dubbed Malus.sh — pronounced “malice,” to give a subtle clue where this is headed — uses AI to “liberate” a piece of software from existing copyright licenses, essentially creating a “clean room” clone that technically doesn’t infringe on the original code’s copyright."

Your Patent Will Expire. Here’s What You Need to Do Next to Keep Innovating Legally.; Entrepreneur, April 24, 2026

 

THOMAS FRANKLIN|EDITED BY CHELSEA BROWN, Entrepreneur; Your Patent Will Expire. Here’s What You Need to Do Next to Keep Innovating Legally.

"Lasting protection comes not from one filing, but from a pipeline of innovation supported by a structured patent portfolio — most often built through multiple patent families. A patent family links related applications around a common inventive core with interlocking priority claims. Early filings anchor protection, while later filings capture details in line with the market as it evolves."

DeepSeek’s Sequel Set to Extend China’s Reach in Open-Source A.I.; The New York Times, April 24, 2026

Meaghan Tobin and Cade Metz, The New York Times; DeepSeek’s Sequel Set to Extend China’s Reach in Open-Source A.I.

"DeepSeek released its models as open source, which means others can freely use and modify them. By contrast, OpenAI and Anthropic kept their leading models proprietary. The episode demonstrated that an open-source system could perform almost as well as closed versions. In the months that followed, Chinese firms released dozens of other open-source models. By the end of 2025, these models made up a significant share of global A.I. usage.

On Friday, DeepSeek released a preview of V4, its long-awaited follow-up model, which it intends to open source. The new model excels at writing computer code, an increasingly important skill for leading A.I. systems. It significantly outperformed every other open-source system at generating code, according to tests from Vals AI, a company that tracks the performance of A.I. technologies.

DeepSeek released its new model just days after Moonshot AI, another Chinese start-up, introduced its latest open-source model, Kimi 2.6. While these systems trail the coding capabilities of the leading U.S. models from Anthropic and OpenAI, the gap is narrowing.

The implications are meaningful. Using A.I. to write code is faster and frees up human programmers to focus on bigger issues. It also means people can use DeepSeek’s latest release to power A.I. agents, which are personal digital assistants that can use other software applications on behalf of office workers, including spreadsheets, online calendars and email services."

U.S. accuses China of "industrial-scale" campaigns to steal AI secrets; Axios, April 23, 2026

Sam Sabin, Axios ; U.S. accuses China of "industrial-scale" campaigns to steal AI secrets

"The Trump administration on Thursday accused China-backed actors of running "deliberate, industrial-scale campaigns" to distill and copy American frontier AI models...

Driving the news: Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, sent a memo Thursday to federal agency heads accusing mostly China-based actors of using proxy accounts to evade detection and jailbreak models to "expose proprietary information" and "extract capabilities from American AI models."

Distillation attacks involve querying proprietary models, like Claude or Gemini, millions of times via APIs to build datasets that replicate how the systems behave.

Kratsios said these campaigns enable foreign actors to release models that appear to match U.S. AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost.

He added that such tactics can also strip away guardrails meant to keep outputs "ideologically neutral and truth-seeking.""

The Onion Has a New Plan to Take Over Infowars; The New York Times, April 21, 2026

Benjamin Mullin and Elizabeth Williamson, The New York Times; The Onion Has a New Plan to Take Over Infowars 

"When Infowars, the website founded by the right-wing conspiracist Alex Jones, came up for sale two years ago, an unlikely suitor stepped up. The Onion, a satirical news outlet, planned to convert the site into a parody of itself.

That sale was scuttled by a bankruptcy court. Now, The Onion has re-emerged with a new plan: licensing the website from Gregory Milligan, the court-appointed manager of the site.

On Monday, Mr. Milligan asked Maya Guerra Gamble, a judge in Texas’ Travis County District Court overseeing the disposition of Infowars, to approve that licensing agreement in a court filing. Under the terms, The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, would pay $81,000 a month to license Infowars.com and its associated intellectual property — such as its name — for an initial six months, with an option to renew for another six months.

The licensing deal has been agreed to by The Onion and the court-appointed administrator. But it is not effective until Judge Guerra Gamble approves it, and Mr. Jones could appeal any ruling. That means the fate of Infowars remains in limbo until the court rules, probably sometime in the next two weeks. Mr. Jones continues to operate Infowars.com and host its weekday program, “The Alex Jones Show.”

YouTube Opens Up AI Deepfake Detection Tool to All of Hollywood (Exclusive); The Hollywood Reporter, April 21, 2026

Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter ; YouTube Opens Up AI Deepfake Detection Tool to All of Hollywood (Exclusive)

The tool, which requires a celebrity to upload their likeness, will flag potentially infringing content — like, say, a star playing a role in fan-generated movie — for a possible takedown.

"Executives at the Google-owned platform tell The Hollywood Reporter that their proprietary deepfake detection tool, years in the making, is now open to anyone at high risk of having their likeness abused: Actors, athletes, creators and musicians, whether they have a YouTube channel or not, can sign up to identify and request removal of deepfakes on its platform...

The timing of the tool’s expansion comes as the industry grapples with the continued growth of deepfakes across platforms, and with video models quickly turning hypothetical worst-case scenarios into reality for many stars."

Church of Jesus Christ files trademark complaint against podcaster for alleged imitation of brands; DeseretNews, April 19, 2026

Tad Walch, DeseretNews; Church of Jesus Christ files trademark complaint against podcaster for alleged imitation of brands

"A trademark dispute is headed to the courts after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and podcaster John Dehlin failed to reach a solution after five months of negotiations.

The church and its intellectual property entity, Intellectual Reserve Inc., filed a trademark and copyright complaint in federal court Friday that names Dehlin and his Open Stories Foundation.

The lawsuit claims Dehlin willfully and knowingly created confusion by using logos and marks similar to the church’s and by using copyrighted church photographs. 

Dehlin is the founder and host of the podcast “Mormon Stories.” He was excommunicated from the church in 2015."

Churchill Downs strikes $85m deal for Preakness intellectual property rights; The Guardian, April 21, 2026

Bryan Armen Graham , The Guardian; Churchill Downs strikes $85m deal for Preakness intellectual property rights

"Churchill Downs has reached a deal to acquire the intellectual property rights to the Preakness Stakes, the company announced Tuesday, in a move that brings one of US thoroughbred racing’s most celebrated events under the same corporate umbrella as the Kentucky Derby.

Churchill Downs Inc said it will pay $85m to buy the trademarks and associated rights to the Preakness and the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes from 1/ST Maryland LLC, an affiliate of 1/ST Racing.

The agreement covers the intellectual property tied to the races, not the events themselves. Under a separate licensing arrangement, Churchill Downs will grant the state of Maryland the rights needed to continue staging the races in exchange for an annual fee.

The transaction follows a 2024 agreement in which Maryland bought Pimlico Race Course from 1/ST Racing but allowed the company to retain the intellectual property rights to the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes. Under that arrangement, 1/ST received annual payments and a share of wagering revenue tied to the races.

The Preakness Stakes, first run in 1873, is the second leg of US horse racing’s Triple Crown, held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and followed by the Belmont Stakes. The Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, a major race for three-year-old fillies, is traditionally run the day before the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in northwest Baltimore."

AI Startups Have These Copyright Lawyers on Speed Dial; Bloomberg Law, April 16, 2026

 David Schultz , Bloomberg Law; AI Startups Have These Copyright Lawyers on Speed Dial

"Something similar connects many of the top attorneys representing the artificial intelligence industry in its most consequential battles: their resumes.

The common thread is Durie Tangri. More than 50 attorneys from the defunct Bay Area intellectual property firm are at the center of epic Silicon Valley copyright fights, just more than three years after Morrison Foerster acquired the practice...

“Tech copyright is a small world,” said Joseph Gratz, one of the alums at Morrison.

The Durie Tangri alums have benefited from the demand in tech copyright law, said Gratz, who has appeared in court defending OpenAI in almost two dozen federal lawsuits...

One of the marquee cases Durie Tangri took on was the decade-long copyright infringement suit over Google’s book digitization. Sonal Mehta, a Durie Tangri alum who is now at WilmerHale, said the boutique relished taking on matters that ventured into uncharted territory.

“We weren’t afraid to be operating in gray areas or to be looking at where the law hadn’t fully developed,” Mehta said. “We didn’t need to feel like every argument had to be something that was a cookie cutter argument that had already been made and won 20 times before.”"

Monkey selfie from 15 years ago accidentally sets precedent for AI copyright dispute; Yahoo News, April 17, 2026

Daniel Gala , Yahoo News; Monkey selfie from 15 years ago accidentally sets precedent for AI copyright dispute

"What does a selfie taken by a monkey in 2011 have to do with the videos, photos, and music created using today's artificial intelligence tools?

The answer — that the works in question were not created by humans — could have enormous ramifications for the future of intellectual property rights."

Val Kilmer Resurrected by AI: ‘As Deep as the Grave’ Trailer Brings Late Actor Back to the Big Screen (EXCLUSIVE); Variety, April 15, 2026

  Brent Lang, Variety; Val Kilmer Resurrected by AI: ‘As Deep as the Grave’ Trailer Brings Late Actor Back to the Big Screen (EXCLUSIVE)

"The filmmakers behind “As Deep as the Grave” have debuted the trailer for the upcoming historical drama, giving viewers a first look at the AI technology that was used to create Val Kilmer‘s performance.

Kilmer, who died in 2025 after battling throat cancer, was cast as Father Fintan, a Catholic priest and Native American spiritualist, but was too sick to shoot his role. With the cooperation of Kilmer’s estate and his daughter Mercedes, the “As Deep as the Grave” team used generative AI to include the actor in the finished film."

AI Makes Securing Copyright Protection for Software Code Tricky; Bloomberg Law, April 15, 2026

 Michael Justus, Carlton Fields, Bloomberg Law; AI Makes Securing Copyright Protection for Software Code Tricky

[Kip Currier: I recommend this brief articleLinks to an external site. in Bloomberg Law; the authors do a great job identifying AI, IP, and human and AI-related coding issues right now, such as "vibe coding". They also provide practical strategies for endeavoring to secure copyright protections for code.]

"Copyright protection for software code is being sacrificed, knowingly or not, for the speed and efficiency of AI coding.

This rapid shift in the role of humans from writing code to managing artificial intelligence tools upends traditional copyright protection strategies. Original human-written code is generally copyrightable. But AI-generated code that lacks human authorship is ineligible for copyright protection under US law.

“Vibe coding”—where humans describe a desired software program in natural language and GenAI tools write the code—is pervasive. This isn’t limited to the tech industry. Employees across industries are vibe coding software solutions, which can be valuable to employers.

Developers estimate 42% of code is AI-generated or assisted and the number was expected to increase significantly, according to an October 2025 survey.

The lack of copyright protections is a big deal...

The key is bespoke curation into a creative whole from many options."

Who owns ideas in the AI age?; Fortune, April 8, 2026

Francesca Cassidy , Fortune; Who owns ideas in the AI age?; David Shelley, CEO of Hachette’s U.K. and U.S. operations, on taking on Big Tech, defending copyright, and why the future of human creativity is at stake.

"Can you ever really own an idea?"

Grambling State Secures Trademark for its "G" Logo After Almost 30 Years; Ebony Magazine, April 7, 2026

STARR ROCQUE , Ebony Magazine; Grambling State Secures Trademark for its "G" Logo After Almost 30 Years

"Grambling State University secured a major win in court this month. The HBCU secured its iconic “G” logo under a US trademark. The historic logo has represented the school’s athletic excellence and pride since the 1970s. However, the process of securing the trademark, led by the Division of Administration and Business Affairs and counsel Kean Miller, had been ongoing since 1998. 

This new milestone follows a coordinated effort to address prior court refusals to grant the trademark while considering other nationally recognized “G” marks, such as those associated with the University of Georgia and the Green Bay Packers."

Anthropic Suddenly Cares Intensely About Intellectual Property After Realizing With Horror That It Accidentally Leaked Claude’s Source Code; Futurism, April 3, 2026

 Frank Landymore, Futurism; Anthropic Suddenly Cares Intensely About Intellectual Property After Realizing With Horror That It Accidentally Leaked Claude’s Source Code

"The AI industry largely acts as if it’s above lowly copyright laws — unless, of course, those laws happen to be protecting its own interests.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, Anthropic is scrambling to contain a leak of its Claude Code AI model’s source code by issuing a copyright takedown request for more than 8,000 copies of it — a gallingly ironic stance for the company to be taking, considering how it trained its models in the first place.

The leak isn’t considered to be an outright disaster; no customer data was exposed, Anthropic says, nor were the internal mathematical “weights” that determine how the AI “learns” and which distinguish it from other models. But it did expose the techniques its engineers used to get its AI model to act as an autonomous agent, a form of digital infrastructure coders call a harness, and other tricks for making the AI operate as seamlessly as it does.

Hence Anthropic’s copyright takedown request, which targets the thousands of copies that were shared on GitHub. It later narrowed its request from 8,000 copies to 96 copies, according to the WSJ reporting, claiming that the initial one covered more accounts than intended.

It’s certainly within Anthropic’s right to issue the takedown request, but the hypocrisy of Anthropic running to the law to protect its intellectual property is plain to see, especially for a company that’s relentlessly positioned itself as the ethical adult in the room."

USPTO announces agentic AI-assisted evaluator for patent eligibility determinations; United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), April 1, 2026

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) ; USPTO announces agentic AI-assisted evaluator for patent eligibility determinations

"As part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) continued efforts to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into agency operations—first with the Artificial Intelligence Search Automated Pilot Program, or “ASAP!,” for patent prior art references followed by the Trademark Classification Agentic Codification Tool, or “Class ACT,” for trademark searching—the USPTO today announced the first-of-its-kind agentic AI tool to assist in patent eligibility determinations under 35 U.S.C. §101. 

America’s Innovation Agency’s new AI system, termed “McConaughey Agentic Tasking Technology Helping Examiner Workload,” or “MATTHEW,” for short, will help examiners tackle the thorniest of eligibility questions as to whether claims presented are an abstract idea or a patent-eligible invention. “MATTHEW will greatly enhance our ability to make the close calls—or any call, really—as I herewith also suspend all applicable precedent, including Desjardins, Alice, and Mayo,” said USPTO Director John A. Squires. “Basically, in terms of eligibility, if MATTHEW says your invention is ‘Alright, Alright, Alright,’ then it’s ‘Alright, Alright, Alright’ with the USPTO.” 

“Initially, we had some concerns that we would be introducing a three-part test in place of the two-part test under Alice and Mayo, but I think we’ll be al…um, okay,” he continued.

“We want to equip our examiners—the best in the world at what they do—with the best tools to assist them,” said Director Squires. “In fact, MATTHEW was selected after careful evaluation of best-in-breed offerings, including the ‘Binary Eligibility Engaged Translation Language Environment Joint User Interface Computational Evaluator,’ or ‘BEETLEJUICE,’” he stated. “But the coders had some issues in testing when they said the name three times. I hope they’ll be al…um, okay,” remarked the Director. 

When asked if the USPTO licensed its tool in light of famed actor McConaughey’s recent Name Image and Likeness (NIL) ‘non-traditional’ registrations, Director Squires retorted, “Well, he’s the one who said, ‘trademark yourself!’—I think the Founders would have wanted this.” When asked if he had heard from Mr. McConaughey’s lawyers, Director Squires produced an unintelligible, guttural chanting sound and began rhythmically beating his chest with his fist.

For more information on this trailblazing AI system, please visit the USPTO website."

Taylor Swift Sued for Trademark Infringement Over ‘The Life of a Showgirl’; The Hollywood Reporter, March 30, 2026

Winston Cho , The Hollywood Reporter; Taylor Swift Sued for Trademark Infringement Over ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

Maren Wade owns the trademark for 'Confessions of a Showgirl.' She claims that the singer undermined her brand with the chart-topping album.

"Taylor Swift‘s latest album, The Life of a Showgirl, has sparked a lawsuit from a writer, who accuses the singer of knowingly disregarding her claim to a similar name.

In a lawsuit filed on Monday in California federal court, Maren Wade brings claims for trademark infringement, false designation and unfair competition against Swift and UMG Recordings. She seeks unspecified damages and a court order barring the singer from continuing to use the name of her chart-topping album."

America's Newspapers emphasizes importance of protecting publishers’ intellectual property; Editor & Publisher, March 25, 2026

Staff | America's Newspapers , Editor & Publisher; America's Newspapers emphasizes importance of protecting publishers’ intellectual property

"America’s Newspapers has issued the following statement in response to the comprehensive national legislative framework on artificial intelligence released by the Trump administration...

Specifically, the framework affirms that the creative works and unique identities of American innovators, creators and publishers must be respected in the age of AI. At the same time, it recognizes that artificial intelligence systems require access to information to learn and improve, and proposes a balanced approach that both enables innovation and safeguards the rights of content creators.

“America’s Newspapers strongly supports the administration’s recognition that high-quality journalism and original content are essential to the continued strength of our democracy and economy,” said Matt McMillan, chair of America’s Newspapers and CEO of Press Publications."