How to tell when AI models infringe copyright; The Washington Post, March 24, 2024

Editorial Board, The Washington Post; How to tell when AI models infringe copyright

"Fair use has been a big part of AI companies’ defense. No matter how well a plaintiff manages to argue that a given AI model infringes copyright, the AI maker can usually point to the doctrine of fair use, which requires consideration of multiple factors, including the purpose of the use (here, criticism, comment and research are favored) and the effect of the use on the marketplace. If, in using a copied work, an AI model adds “something new,” it is probably in the clear."

The AI Copyright Battle: Why OpenAI And Google Are Pushing For Fair Use; Forbes, March 15, 2025

Virginie Berger , Forbes; The AI Copyright Battle: Why OpenAI And Google Are Pushing For Fair Use

"Furthermore, the ongoing lawsuits against AI firms could serve as a necessary correction to push the industry toward genuinely intelligent machine learning models instead of data-compression-based generators masquerading as intelligence. If legal challenges force AI firms to rethink their reliance on copyrighted content, it could spur innovation toward creating more advanced, ethically sourced AI systems...

Recommendations: Finding a Sustainable Balance

A sustainable solution must reconcile technological innovation with creators' economic interests. Policymakers should develop clear federal standards specifying fair use parameters for AI training, considering solutions such as:

• Licensing and Royalties: Transparent licensing arrangements compensating creators whose work is integral to AI datasets.
• Curated Datasets: Government or industry-managed datasets explicitly approved for AI training, ensuring fair compensation.
• Regulated Exceptions: Clear legal definitions distinguishing transformative use in AI training contexts.

These nuanced policies could encourage innovation without sacrificing creators’ rights.

The lobbying by OpenAI and Google reveals broader tensions between rapid technological growth and ethical accountability. While national security concerns warrant careful consideration, they must not justify irresponsible regulation or ethical compromises. A balanced approach, preserving innovation, protecting creators’ rights, and ensuring sustainable and ethical AI development, is critical for future global competitiveness and societal fairness."

Judge says Meta must defend claim it stripped copyright info from Llama's training fodder; The Register, March 11, 2025

Thomas Claburn , The Register; Judge says Meta must defend claim it stripped copyright info from Llama's training fodder

"A judge has found Meta must answer a claim it allegedly removed so-called copyright management information from material used to train its AI models.

The Friday ruling by Judge Vince Chhabria concerned the case Kadrey et al vs Meta Platforms, filed in July 2023 in a San Francisco federal court as a proposed class action by authors Richard Kadrey, Sarah Silverman, and Christopher Golden, who reckon the Instagram titan's use of their work to train its neural networks was illegal.

Their case burbled along until January 2025 when the plaintiffs made the explosive allegation that Meta knew it used copyrighted material for training, and that its AI models would therefore produce results that included copyright management information (CMI) – the fancy term for things like the creator of a copyrighted work, its license and terms of use, its date of creation, and so on, that accompany copyrighted material.

The miffed scribes alleged Meta therefore removed all of this copyright info from the works it used to train its models so users wouldn’t be made aware the results they saw stemmed from copyrighted stuff."

An AI Maker Was Just Found Liable for Copyright Infringement. What Does This Portend for Content Creators and AI Makers?; The Federalist Society, February 25, 2025

  John Blanton Farmer , The Federalist Society; An AI Maker Was Just Found Liable for Copyright Infringement. What Does This Portend for Content Creators and AI Makers?

"In a case decided on February 11, the makers of generative AI (GenAI), such as ChatGPT, lost the first legal battle in the war over whether they commit copyright infringement by using the material of others as training data without permission. The case is called Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence Inc.

If other courts follow this ruling, the cost of building and selling GenAI services will dramatically increase. Such businesses are already losing money.

The ruling could also empower content creators, such as writers, to deny the use of their material to train GenAIs or to demand license fees. Some creators might be unwilling to license use of their material for training AIs due to fear that GenAI will destroy demand for their work."

Court: Training AI Model Based on Copyrighted Data Is Not Fair Use as a Matter of Law; The National Law Review, February 11, 2025

Joseph A. Meckes, Joseph Grasser of Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP   - Global IP and Technology Law Blog,  The National Law Review; Court: Training AI Model Based on Copyrighted Data Is Not Fair Use as a Matter of Law

"In what may turn out to be an influential decision, Judge Stephanos Bibas ruled as a matter of law in Thompson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence that creating short summaries of law to train Ross Intelligence’s artificial intelligence legal research application not only infringes Thompson Reuters’ copyrights as a matter of law but that the copying is not fair use. Judge Bibas had previously ruled that infringement and fair use were issues for the jury but changed his mind: “A smart man knows when he is right; a wise man knows when he is wrong.”

At issue in the case was whether Ross Intelligence directly infringed Thompson Reuters’ copyrights in its case law headnotes that are organized by Westlaw’s proprietary Key Number system. Thompson Reuters contended that Ross Intelligence’s contractor copied those headnotes to create “Bulk Memos.” Ross Intelligence used the Bulk Memos to train its competitive AI-powered legal research tool. Judge Bibas ruled that (i) the West headnotes were sufficiently original and creative to be copyrightable, and (ii) some of the Bulk Memos used by Ross were so similar that they infringed as a matter of law...

In other words, even if a work is selected entirely from the public domain, the simple act of selection is enough to give rise to copyright protection."

Meta staff torrented nearly 82TB of pirated books for AI training — court records reveal copyright violations; Tom's Hardware, February 9, 2025

 Jowi Morales

 , Tom's Hardware; Meta staff torrented nearly 82TB of pirated books for AI training — court records reveal copyright violations

"Facebook parent-company Meta is currently fighting a class action lawsuit alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition, among others, with regards to how it trained LLaMA. According to an X (formerly Twitter) post by vx-underground, court records reveal that the social media company used pirated torrents to download 81.7TB of data from shadow libraries including Anna’s Archive, Z-Library, and LibGen. It then used this information to train its AI models.

The evidence, in the form of written communication, shows the researchers’ concerns about Meta’s use of pirated materials. One senior AI researcher said way back in October 2022, “I don’t think we should use pirated material. I really need to draw a line here.” While another one said, “Using pirated material should be beyond our ethical threshold,” then they added, “SciHub, ResearchGate, LibGen are basically like PirateBay or something like that, they are distributing content that is protected by copyright and they’re infringing it.”"

News organizations sue OpenAI over copyright infringement claims; Jurist.org, January 16, 2025

 Harjaap Ahluwalia | Osgoode Hall Law School, CA, Jurist.org; News organizations sue OpenAI over copyright infringement claims

"The case centers on allegations that OpenAI unlawfully utilized copyrighted content from various publishers, including The New York Times, to train its generative AI models and the hearing could determine whether OpenAI will face trial.

The plaintiffs claim that ChatGPT’s ability to generate human-like responses stems from the unauthorized use of their work without permission or compensation to develop their large language models (LLMs). OpenAI and its financial backer Microsoft argue that its use of data is protected under the fair use doctrine, which allows limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes such as commentary, criticism or education.

Additionally, OpenAI’s legal team asserts that The New York Times has not demonstrated actual harm resulting from their practices and that its use of the copyrighted material is transformative as it does not replicate the content verbatim. On the other hand, the plaintiffs are arguing copyright infringement because OpenAI removed identifiable information such as author bylines and publication details when using the content. They also contend that the LLMs absorb and reproduce expressions from the training data without genuine understanding."

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."