In AI copyright case, Zuckerberg turns to YouTube for his defense; TechCrunch, January 15, 2025

Kyle Wiggers

Maxwell Zeff

, TechCrunch ; In AI copyright case, Zuckerberg turns to YouTube for his defense

"Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to have used YouTube’s battle to remove pirated content to defend his own company’s use of a data set containing copyrighted e-books, reveals newly released snippets of a deposition he gave late last year.

The deposition, which was part of a complaint submitted to the court by plaintiffs’ attorneys, is related to the AI copyright case Kadrey v. Meta. It’s one of many such cases winding through the U.S. court system that’s pitting AI companies against authors and other IP holders. For the most part, the defendants in these cases – AI companies – claim that training on copyrighted content is “fair use.” Many copyright holders disagree."

Florida Sports Blog Hit With Copyright Case; Law360, January 3, 2025

 Andrew Karen, Law360; Florida Sports Blog Hit With Copyright Case

"A Boca Raton, Florida-based sports blog is facing a copyright case from a New York photographer after including an image in a post about the history of the Sports Illustrated brand..."

Trademark Tussle: When Elves Land on the Naughty List; Holland & Knight IP/Decode Blog, December 23, 2024

Holland & Knight IP/Decode Blog ; Trademark Tussle: When Elves Land on the Naughty List

"CCA and B LLC, the company behind the "Elf on the Shelf" book, merchandise and the joy (or angst) of children everywhere, has found itself in a legal kerfuffle with Elena Jenkins (aka Elena Popova). The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, accuses Ms. Jenkins of willfully infringing CCA and B's ELF ON THE SHELF® trademarks and the copyrighted images of those mischievous elves without permission. On its wish list, CCA and B is asking for an injunction, monetary damages and destruction of all of Ms. Jenkins' rogue elves."

Pittsburgh-based medical drama 'The Pitt' comes to Max soon. Here's what you need to know; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 23, 2024

 SAMUEL LONG, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pittsburgh-based medical drama 'The Pitt' comes to Max soon. Here's what you need to know

"Is this just another ‘ER’?

Before production of “The Pitt,” there was talk in 2020 about reviving the hugely popular “ER,” which ended in 2009, Noah Wyle said in an interview with Steve Kmetko on his Still Here Hollywood podcast. Wyle and “ER” executive producer John Wells recruited a few writers from the 1994 drama to bring the reboot to life, but issues between he and the estate of Michael Crichton, “ER’s” creator, put a halt to the idea, according to Deadline. 

Instead, Wells started working on “The Pitt.” But issues with the medical drama’s resemblance to “ER” still arose. 

A lawsuit filed in August by Michael Crichton’s widow, Sherri Crichton, named Warner Bros Television, Wells, Wyle, Gemmill (“The Pitt’s” showrunner), among others. The suit alleges that, after those named walked away from the “ER” reboot, the concept was instead turned into “The Pitt.” 

Deadline described the similarities between “ER” and “The Pitt” as “striking.”

Warner Bros. Television responded to the lawsuit with a motion to dismiss, stating: “’The Pitt’ is a completely different show from ‘ER.’ Plaintiff cannot use Mr. Crichton’s ‘ER’ contract as a speech-stifling weapon to prevent Defendants from ever making a show about emergency medicine.”

Warner Bros. Fires Back at Crichton Estate Over Claim ‘The Pitt’ Is an ‘ER’ Reboot: It’s a ‘Completely Different Show’; Variety, November 5, 2024

Gene Madders , Variety; Warner Bros. Fires Back at Crichton Estate Over Claim ‘The Pitt’ Is an ‘ER’ Reboot: It’s a ‘Completely Different Show’

"Warner Bros. is seeking to throw out a lawsuit filed by the estate of Michael Crichton, which argued that the forthcoming Max series “The Pitt” is an unauthorized reboot of “ER.”"

AI's assault on our intellectual property must be stopped; Financial Times, December 21, 2024

Kate Mosse, Financial Times; AI's assault on our intellectual property must be stopped

"Imagine my dismay, therefore, to discover that those 15 years of dreaming, researching, planning, writing, rewriting, editing, visiting libraries and archives, translating Occitan texts, hunting down original 13th-century documents, becoming an expert in Catharsis, apparently counts for nothing. Labyrinth is just one of several of my novels that have been scraped by Meta's large language model. This has been done without my consent, without remuneration, without even notification. This is theft...

AI companies present creators as being against change. We are  not. Every artist I know is already engaging with AI in one way or another. But a distinction needs to be made between AI that can be used in brilliant ways -- for example, medical diagnosis -- and the foundations of AI models, where companies are essentially stealing creatives' work for their own profit. We should not forget that the AI companies rely on creators to build their models. Without strong copyright law that ensures creators can earn a living, AI companies will lack the high-quality material that is essential for their future growth."

Can You Copyright a Vibe?; The New York Times, December 5, 2024

Sandra E. Garcia , The New York Times; Can You Copyright a Vibe?

"Ms. Gifford claims that Ms. Sheil, 21, not only started to mimic her online persona but also appropriated her entire look. And now she is suing.

Ms. Gifford had copyrighted several of her social media posts in January, after noticing the similarity between Ms. Sheil’s posts and her own. Several photos were submitted as evidence in the lawsuit Ms. Gifford filed this year in a federal court in Texas accusing Ms. Sheil of copyright infringement. But in the carefully curated world of social media, Ms. Gifford has leveled a perhaps more severe charge against her: stealing her vibe...

In several interviews beginning in August, experts said influencers have to navigate a blurry landscape in which assigning credit to who created what can be daunting and, in some cases, impossible.

“There really is a sense that you’re both a creator and a borrower,” said Jeanne Fromer, a professor of intellectual property law at New York University. “Fashion is built on that. All the creative industries — painting, music, movies — they’re all built on borrowing in certain ways from the past and also ideally trying to bring your own spin to something. I don’t know that anyone wants to go too far as a result.""

Indian news agency sues OpenAI alleging copyright infringement; TechCrunch, November 18, 2024

 Manish Singh, TechCrunch; Indian news agency sues OpenAI alleging copyright infringement

"One of India’s largest news agencies, Asian News International (ANI), has sued OpenAI in a case that could set a precedent for how AI companies use copyrighted news content in the world’s most populous nation.

Asian News International filed a 287-page lawsuit in the Delhi High Court on Monday, alleging the AI company illegally used its content to train its AI models and generated false information attributed to the news agency. The case marks the first time an Indian media organization has taken legal action against OpenAI over copyright claims.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Amit Bansal issued a summons to OpenAI after the company confirmed it had already ensured that ChatGPT wasn’t accessing ANI’s website. The bench said that it was not inclined to grant an injunction order on Tuesday, as the case required a detailed hearing for being a “complex issue.”

The next hearing is scheduled to be held in January."

‘Blade Runner 2049’ Producers Sue Elon Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery, Alleging Copyright Infringement; Variety, October 21, 2024

Todd Spangler , Variety; ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Producers Sue Elon Musk, Tesla and Warner Bros. Discovery, Alleging Copyright Infringement

"Alcon Entertainment, the production company behind “Blade Runner 2049,” sued Tesla and CEO Elon Musk, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery, alleging that AI-generated images depicting scenes from the film used for the launch of Tesla’s self-driving Robotaxi represent copyright infringement.

In its lawsuit, filed Monday in L.A., Alcon said it had adamantly insisted that “Blade Runner 2049,” which stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, have no affiliation of any kind with “Tesla, X, Musk or any Musk-owned company,” given “Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech.”"

Copyright law violation? Mark Robinson campaign used photos from freelancer without permission; North Carolina Public Radio, October 11, 2024

Dave DeWitt, North Carolina Public Radio; Copyright law violation? Mark Robinson campaign used photos from freelancer without permission

"“Unfortunately, we see this happen repeatedly, every election season,” says Alicia Calzada, Deputy General Counsel for National Press Photographers Association. “In many cases it is not malicious. Rather it is a consequence of a campaign not understanding the basics of copyright law. This is especially true in down-ballot races, but we see infringement all the way up and down the ballot, and we see it in both parties.

“That said, the communications team of a gubernatorial campaign should be professional enough to know better."...

Hey says she plans to reach out to the Robinson campaign and ask that the photos be removed immediately. As of Friday afternoon, the photos were still on the site. Hey says she intends to explore legal options, if the photos are not removed.

In some ways, the damage may already be done.

“In the context of a political campaign, a photojournalist needs to remain impartial as a part of their job responsibilities, and so when a campaign uses photographs without permission, it threatens the appearance of impartiality,” Calzada said. “This is one reason why many photojournalists fight so hard to protect their copyright.”"

Art Collective Behind Viral Image of Kamala Harris Sues for Copyright Infringement; artnet, October 11, 2024

 Jo Lawson-Tancred , artnet; Art Collective Behind Viral Image of Kamala Harris Sues for Copyright Infringement

"A lawsuit filed by Good Trubble in a California district on October 10 alleges that Irem Erdem of Round Rock, Texas, deliberately committed copyright infringement because of the image’s “widespread dissemination” online.

The digitally-created artwork designed by Bria Goeller for Good Trubble is titled That Little Girl Was Me. It was released on October 20, 2020, and went viral shortly after the last U.S. presidential election in November 2020, when Harris became the first Black and South Asian woman to be elected vice president. The image can be bought as a print or on t-shirts and other products on Good Trubble’s website, including a new version featuring the White House in celebration of Harris’s current bid for the presidency.

The image pairs the figure of Harris with silhouette of activist Ruby Bridges as a young girl. It quotes from Norman Rockwell‘s iconic 1964 painting The Problem We All Live With, which depicts the historic event of a six-year-old Bridges being escorted by four deputy U.S. marshals into the all-white public school during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis of 1960. This measure was taken to protect her from the threat of violence, which is hinted at by a racial slur and the splatter of thrown tomatoes scrawled on the wall behind her."

Trump’s other legal problem: Copyright infringement claims; The Washington Post, September 7, 2024

Herb Scribner

 and 

Janay Kingsberry

, The Washington Post; Trump’s other legal problem: Copyright infringement claims

"Music industry experts and copyright law attorneys say the cases, as well as Trump’s decision to continue playing certain songs despite artists’ requests that he desist, underscore the complex legalities of copyright infringement in today’s digital, streaming and licensing era — and could set an important precedent on the of use of popular music in political campaigns."

Trump and Associates Set to Face Isaac Hayes’ Estate in Court Over Use of Songwriter’s Music; The Hollywood Reporter, August 26, 2024

 Kevin Dolan, The Hollywood Reporter; Trump and Associates Set to Face Isaac Hayes’ Estate in Court Over Use of Songwriter’s Music

"Team Trump and multiple associations and organizations affiliated with the former president will finally have to appear before a judge to explain its unauthorized use of popular music at the GOP candidate’s rallies and events, which has gone on for years but is being threatened by the estate of recording legend Isaac Hayes, which was granted an emergency injunction in its lawsuit against the former president, according to a Friday social media post from the songwriter’s son.

Team Trump and multiple associations and organizations affiliated with the former president will finally have to appear before a judge to explain its unauthorized use of popular music at the GOP candidate’s rallies and events, which has gone on for years but is being threatened by the estate of recording legend Isaac Hayes, which was granted an emergency injunction in its lawsuit against the former president, according to a Friday social media post from the songwriter’s son."

ABC, Kimmel Defeat George Santos Cameo Video Copyright Suit; Bloomberg Law, August 19, 2024

Kyle Jahner , Bloomberg Law; ABC, Kimmel Defeat George Santos Cameo Video Copyright Suit

"Jimmy Kimmel and ABC defeated former Rep. George Santos’ copyright lawsuit as a New York federal court found use of his Cameo videos on television constituted fair use."

Kim Dotcom to be extradited from New Zealand to US; The Guardian, August 15, 2024

Reuters via The Guardian , The Guardian; Kim Dotcom to be extradited from New Zealand to US

"As well as copyright infringement, Dotcom faces more serious charges, including money laundering and racketeering. He has long argued that he should not be held liable for copyright infringement carried out using his site, a filesharing service that allowed users to upload content and share the link with others to download."

Artists Score Major Win in Copyright Case Against AI Art Generators; The Hollywood Reporter, August 13, 2024

Winston Cho, The Hollywood Reporter; Artists Score Major Win in Copyright Case Against AI Art Generators

"Artists suing generative artificial intelligence art generators have cleared a major hurdle in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit over the uncompensated and unauthorized use of billions of images downloaded from the internet to train AI systems, with a federal judge allowing key claims to move forward.

U.S. District Judge William Orrick on Monday advanced all copyright infringement and trademark claims in a pivotal win for artists. He found that Stable Diffusion, Stability’s AI tool that can create hyperrealistic images in response to a prompt of just a few words, may have been “built to a significant extent on copyrighted works” and created with the intent to “facilitate” infringement. The order could entangle in the litigation any AI company that incorporated the model into its products."

AI song generators face legal scrutiny accused of copyright infringement. How it affects our musicians.; News Channel 5 Nashville, August 1, 2024

Aaron Cantrell, News Channel 5 Nashville; AI song generators face legal scrutiny accused of copyright infringement. How it affects our musicians.

"Last month, the Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit against developers of AI song generators for copyright infringement.

Lance Yarlott, a passionate musician, shared his thoughts on the matter...

His band prepared for their last rehearsal before recording in a studio on Middle Tennessee State University’s campus. Many songs come to life in a recording studio, however, they are no longer the only option.

There's been a surge of people using AI song generators from start-up companies like Suno and Udio...

MTSU copyright law professor and entertainment attorney Denise Shackelford explained the legal issues...

This year, Tennessee became the first state to protect musicians and other artists against AI, thanks to the Ensuring Likeness Voice and Image Security Act, or ELVIS Act for short."

Music labels' AI lawsuits create copyright puzzle for courts; Reuters, August 4, 2024

Blake Brittain, Reuters; Music labels' AI lawsuits create copyright puzzle for courts

"Suno and Udio pointed to past public statements defending their technology when asked for comment for this story. They filed their initial responses in court on Thursday, denying any copyright violations and arguing that the lawsuits were attempts to stifle smaller competitors. They compared the labels' protests to past industry concerns about synthesizers, drum machines and other innovations replacing human musicians...

The labels' claims echo allegations by novelists, news outlets, music publishers and others in high-profile copyright lawsuits over chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude that use generative AI to create text. Those lawsuits are still pending and in their early stages.

Both sets of cases pose novel questions for the courts, including whether the law should make exceptions for AI's use of copyrighted material to create something new...

"Music copyright has always been a messy universe," said Julie Albert, an intellectual property partner at law firm Baker Botts in New York who is tracking the new cases. And even without that complication, Albert said fast-evolving AI technology is creating new uncertainty at every level of copyright law.

WHOSE FAIR USE?

The intricacies of music may matter less in the end if, as many expect, the AI cases boil down to a "fair use" defense against infringement claims - another area of U.S. copyright law filled with open questions."

AI Startup Suno Claims “Fair Use” Copyright Doctrine Allows Training On Major Recordings; Deadline, August 1, 2024

 Bruce Haring, Deadline; AI Startup Suno Claims “Fair Use” Copyright Doctrine Allows Training On Major Recordings

"Suno CEO and co-founder Mikey Shulman amplified that stance in a blog post today. “We train our models on medium- and high-quality music we can find on the open internet… Much of the open internet indeed contains copyrighted materials, and some of it is owned by major record labels.”

Schulman said such use is viewed by Suno as “early but promising progress. Major record labels see this vision as a threat to their business.” He added, “learning is not infringing. It never has been, and it is not now.”

Shulman also argued that training its AI model from data on the “open internet” is no different than a “kid writing their own rock songs after listening to the genre.” 

The RIAA responded “It’s a major concession of facts they spent months trying to hide and acknowledged only when forced by a lawsuit. Their industrial scale infringement does not qualify as ‘fair use’. There’s nothing fair about stealing an artist’s life’s work, extracting its core value, and repackaging it to compete directly with the originals…Their vision of the ‘future of music’ is apparently one in which fans will no longer enjoy music by their favorite artists because those artists can no longer earn a living.”"

Record labels sue Verizon for not disconnecting pirates’ Internet service; Ars Technica, July 15, 2024

JON BRODKIN , Ars Technica; Record labels sue Verizon for not disconnecting pirates’ Internet service

"Major record labels sued Verizon on Friday, alleging that the Internet service provider violated copyright law by continuing to serve customers accused of pirating music. Verizon "knowingly provides its high-speed service to a massive community of online pirates," said the complaint filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Universal, Sony, and Warner say they have sent over 340,000 copyright infringement notices to Verizon since early 2020. "Those notices identify specific subscribers on Verizon's network stealing Plaintiffs' sound recordings through peer-to-peer ('P2P') file-sharing networks that are notorious hotbeds for copyright infringement," the lawsuit said."