Netflix Prevails in ‘Tiger King’ Copyright Case, a Win for ‘Fair Use’ in Documentaries; Variety, April 30, 2026

 Gene Maddaus, Variety; Netflix Prevails in ‘Tiger King’ Copyright Case, a Win for ‘Fair Use’ in Documentaries

"Documentary filmmakers who use unlicensed video clips can breathe a little easier, after an appellate panel reversed itself Thursday in a closely watched copyright case involving Netflix‘s “Tiger King” series.

A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the filmmakers’ use of a 66-second clip from a character’s funeral was sufficiently transformative to qualify for “fair use” protection."

Netflix fends off 'Tiger King' copyright claims again on appeal; Reuters, April 30, 2026

Blake Brittain , Reuters; Netflix fends off 'Tiger King' copyright claims again on appeal

"A U.S. appeals court ruled ​for Netflix on Thursday in a cameraman's copyright infringement case against the streaming video company ‌over footage used in its hit 2020 documentary series "Tiger King."

The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that Netflix made fair use of one of Timothy Sepi's videos and affirmed its previous ruling that the company did not violate Sepi's rights ​in seven others."

Chicken Soup for the Soul Sues AI Firms for Copyright Infringement; Publishers Weekly, March 20, 2026

  Ed Nawotka , Publishers Weekly; Chicken Soup for the Soul Sues AI Firms for Copyright Infringement

"Chicken Soup for the Soul is suing tech companies OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, xAI, Perplexity, Apple, and Nvidia for copyright infringement. The suit, filed March 17 in the Northern District of California, alleges that hundreds of its copyrighted works were ingested without authorization or compensation to train large language models...

Much like the complaint filed in December by author John Carreyrou and others against many of the same defendants, this filing also aims to challenge the class-action model that has dominated AI copyright litigation.

Pointing to the pending Anthropic settlement in the Northern District of California, the suit notes that the framework would pay rights holders approximately $3,000 per work—"just 2% of the Copyright Act's statutory ceiling of $150,000 per willfully infringed work." The complaint states that such settlements "seem to serve Defendants, not creators."

Chicken Soup for the Soul is instead seeking individualized statutory damages determined by a jury. The law firms behind the suit say more than 1,000 authors representing more than 5,000 works have signed on to the same approach."

The dictionary sues OpenAI; TechCrunch, March 16, 2026

Amanda Silberling, TechCrunch; The dictionary sues OpenAI

"Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging in its complaint that the AI giant has committed “massive copyright infringement.”

Britannica, which owns Merriam-Webster, retains the copyright to nearly 100,000 online articles, which have been scraped and used to train OpenAI’s LLMs without permission, the publisher alleges in the lawsuit.

Britannica also accuses OpenAI of violating copyright laws when it generates outputs that contain “full or partial verbatim reproductions” of its content and when the AI lab uses its articles in ChatGPT’s RAG (retrieval augmented generation) workflow. OpenAI’s RAG tool is how the LLM scans the web or other databases for newly updated information when responding to a query. Britannica also alleges that OpenAI violates the Lanham Act, a trademark statute, when it generates made-up hallucinations and attributes them falsely to the publisher."

YouTuber sues Runway AI in latest copyright class action over AI training; Reuters, February 24, 2026

 Blake Brittain, Reuters; YouTuber sues Runway AI in latest copyright class action over AI training

"Artificial intelligence video startup Runway AI has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in California federal court for allegedly misusing YouTube content to train its video generation platform.

YouTube creator David Gardner said in the complaint filed in Los Angeles on Monday, that Runway bypassed YouTube's copyright protections to illegally download user videos for its AI training."

Defendant Tattoo Artist Prevails in Miles Davis Tattoo Suit; Lexology, January 5, 2026

Michael Best & Friedrich LLP , Lexology; Defendant Tattoo Artist Prevails in Miles Davis Tattoo Suit

"In the case, Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg, 9th Cir., No. 24‑3367 (Jan. 2, 2026), the Ninth Circuit affirmed a jury verdict in favor of celebrity tattoo artist Katherine “Kat Von D” Von Drachenberg in a closely watched copyright dispute brought by photographer Jeffrey Sedlik over a tattoo based on Sedlik’s well-known portrait of Miles Davis. A link to the images of the photo and the tattoo can be seen here (Kat Von D defends use of Miles Davis photo for friend's tattoo | Courthouse News Service). The panel left intact the jury’s finding of no infringement on the ground that the tattoo and photograph were not “substantially similar,” and emphasized that it would not substitute its view for the jury’s on this fact-intensive question."

‘Pirated’?: NY Defenders Face Copyright Suit for Allegedly ‘Copying’ Expert Report; Law.com, January 2, 2026

Alyssa Aquino , Law.com; ‘Pirated’?: NY Defenders Face Copyright Suit for Allegedly ‘Copying’ Expert Report

"A researcher in their complaint alleged that the Federal Defenders of New York copied an expert report commissioned by other attorneys directly into court filings for their own case. “When you’re using something in litigation, you usually have a fair use defense, but that’s usually because you’re using it for something different than its original purpose,” said Stacey Lantagne, a law professor at Suffolk University. “But here, [the report] seems to have been created solely for litigation.”"

Disney, Warner Urge Judge Against Tossing AI-Copyright Lawsuit; Bloomberg Law, December 26, 2025

 

Annelise Levy

, Bloomberg Law; Disney, Warner Urge Judge Against Tossing AI-Copyright Lawsuit

"The studios’ said they’d engaged specialists in Singapore and China and were informed service could take eight to 24 months."

Sean Combs: The Reckoning review – you can see why the musician is fighting to ban this horrific documentary; The Guardian, December 2, 2025

 Stuart Heritage, The Guardian; Sean Combs: The Reckoning review – you can see why the musician is fighting to ban this horrific documentary

"If its subject gets his way, the new documentary series Sean Combs: The Reckoning might not be available on Netflix for long. On Monday, lawyers on behalf of Combs sent a cease and desist letter to the streamer, demanding that the series be withdrawn based on the inclusion of footage that they claim violates copyright, and involves discussions of “legal strategy that were not intended for public viewing”."

Copyright Piracy at the Supreme Court In Cox v. Sony: is an internet provider liable for digital thieves?; The Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2025

The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal; Copyright Piracy at the Supreme Court" In Cox v. Sony, is an internet provider liable for digital thieves?

"If a college student pirates music files, can his broadband provider be liable for his copyright infringement? That’s the question before the Supreme Court on Monday in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, which tugs at the tension between protecting intellectual property and the internet."

Court to consider billion-dollar judgment for copyright infringement; SCOTUSblog, November 25, 2025

Ronald Mann , SCOTUSblog; Court to consider billion-dollar judgment for copyright infringement

"The court will hear its big copyright case for the year during the first week of the December session, when on Monday, Dec. 1, it reviews a billion-dollar ruling against Cox Communications based on its failure to eradicate copyright infringement by its customers."

Huckabee’s Copyright Claim Over AI Advances Against Bloomberg; Bloomberg Law, November 25, 2025

Aruni Soni

, Bloomberg Law; Huckabee’s Copyright Claim Over AI Advances Against Bloomberg

 "A federal judge declined to dismiss a copyright-infringement claim in a proposed class action led by Mike Huckabee, accusing Bloomberg LP of using a pirated dataset to train its AI model.

Judge Margaret M. Garnett said she couldn’t evaluate Bloomberg’s defense that its use of authors’ books to train BloombergGPT was fair use under US copyright law without a factual record, denying its motion to dismiss in a Monday opinion filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York."

White Bird Clinic sues Willamette Valley Crisis Care over misuse of trade secrets, copyright infringement; Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), November 24, 2025

Nathan Wilk , Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB); White Bird Clinic sues Willamette Valley Crisis Care over misuse of trade secrets, copyright infringement

"Eugene’s White Bird Clinic is suing a rival nonprofit, Willamette Valley Crisis Care, over copyright infringement and the stealing of trade secrets.

WVCC was founded after White Bird shuttered CAHOOTS services in Eugene in April. The new nonprofit hopes to launch a similar mobile crisis intervention program and has multiple former CAHOOTS staff members on board.

White Bird is now alleging that minutes before WVCC co-founder Alese “Dandy” Colehour sent a resignation letter to White Bird earlier this month, they downloaded confidential client information, training manuals and other materials to give to the newer non-profit.

White Bird is also accusing the WVCC of infringing on its CAHOOTS trademark through advertising materials and other public outreach efforts, and of passing off White Bird’s services as its own."

Japanese Companies Tell OpenAI to Stop Infringing On Its IP; Gizmodo, November 2, 2025

JUSTIN CARTER , Gizmodo; Japanese Companies Tell OpenAI to Stop Infringing On Its IP

"The Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA), which represents several major Japanese entertainment companies such as TV studio Toei and game developer Square Enix, recently sent a written request calling on OpenAI to end its unauthorized use of their IP to train its recently launched Sora 2 generative AI.

Nearly 20 co-signers have accused the tech company of copyright infringement, alleging a “large portion” of Sora 2 content “closely resembles Japanese content or images [as] a result of using Japanese content as machine learning data.” The letter mentioned OpenAI’s policy of using copyrighted works unless the owner explicitly asks to opt out, but argues under Japanese law, it should instead be an opt-in system, since permission for copyrighted works is generally required beforehand."

To protect his copyrights, storm chaser Reed Timmer goes to court often; The Oklahoman, October 19, 2025

Dale Denwalt, The Oklahoman; To protect his copyrights, storm chaser Reed Timmer goes to court often

"A copyright controversy between celebrity storm chaser Reed Timmer and a YouTube streamer highlights a behind-the-scenes legal industry meant to protect original content online.

For fans, it has offered a peek inside the lucrative but complex world of federal copyright law and the legal tools used to make sure original creators get paid when their work is used by someone else. While the dispute was resolved quickly, Timmer often goes to court to protect his work.

A decade ago, it was mostly large, well-established companies and publishers who rooted out cases of copyright infringement, said Oklahoma City attorney Douglas Sorocco. But now there are more independent creators, citizen journalists and small businesses creating their own digital content...

"For the hurricane, I thought it would be A-OK to show very brief clips of what was happening with Milton so I could stay up to date," White said.

Timmer agreed, even if his digital rights management company didn't. In a response video posted the same day as White's, Timmer clarified he is "not suing Charlie" and asked that the copyright claim be removed."

Disney Sends Cease And Desist Letter To Character.ai For Copyright Infringement As Studios Move To Protect IP; Deadline, September 30, 2025

Jill Goldsmith, Deadline; Disney Sends Cease And Desist Letter To Character.ai For Copyright Infringement As Studios Move To Protect IP

"Walt Disney sent a cease-and-desist letter to Character.AI, a “personalized superintelligence platform” that the media giant says is ripping off copyrighted characters without authorization.

The AI startup offers users the ability to create customizable, personalized AI companions that can be totally original but in some cases are inspired by existing characters, including, it seems, Disney icons from Spider-Man and Darth Vader to Moana and Elsa.

The letter is the latest legal salvo by Hollywood as studios begin to step up against AI. Disney has also sued AI company Midjourney for allegedly improper use and distribution of AI-generated characters from Disney films. Disney, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures this month sued Chinese AI firm MiniMax for copyright infringement."

Sued for Playing With Toys?; The New York Times, August 5, 2025

Chantel Tattoli, The New York Times ; Sued for Playing With Toys?

"When Paul Welander, a health care worker in Britain, heard about a lawsuit that the maker of Calico Critters toys recently filed against a social media content creator, he wasn’t totally surprised.

The critters, introduced in 1985, are tiny velvety-bodied animals — rabbits, mice, moles, bears, beavers, badgers, pigs, penguins — dressed in modest clothes and sold in sets as families.

The lawsuit alleges that the creator committed copyright and trademark infringement by making videos that portray the twee toys in scandalous situations: having affairs, driving drunk, taking drugs. Videos not unlike the crassly captioned pictures of the toys, also known as Sylvanians, that Mr. Welander, 51, started sharing on social media back in 2016."

Trump’s Comments Undermine AI Action Plan, Threaten Copyright; Publishers Weekly, July 23, 2025

Ed Nawotka  , Publishers Weekly; Trump’s Comments Undermine AI Action Plan, Threaten Copyright

"Senate bill proposes 'opt-in' legislation

Trump's comments come on the heels of the introduction, by U.S. senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), of the AI Accountability and Personal Data Protection Act this past Monday following a hearing last week on AI companies' copyright infringement. The bipartisan legislation aims to hold AI firms liable for using copyrighted works or personal data without acquiring explicit consent to train AI models. It would empower individuals—including writers, artists, and content creators—to sue companies in federal court if their data or copyrighted works are used without consent. It also supports class action lawsuits and advocates for violators to pay robust penalties.

"AI companies are robbing the American people blind while leaving artists, writers, and other creators with zero recourse," said Hawley. "It’s time for Congress to give the American worker their day in court to protect their personal data and creative works. My bipartisan legislation would finally empower working Americans who now find their livelihoods in the crosshairs of Big Tech’s lawlessness."

"This bill embodies a bipartisan consensus that AI safeguards are urgent—because the technology is moving at accelerating speed, and so are dangers to privacy," added Blumenthal. "Enforceable rules can put consumers back in control of their data, and help bar abuses. Tech companies must be held accountable—and liable legally—when they breach consumer privacy, collecting, monetizing or sharing personal information without express consent. Consumers must be given rights and remedies—and legal tools to make them real—not relying on government enforcement alone."

Judge dismisses Trump’s copyright lawsuit against Bob Woodward and audiobook publisher; CNN, July 18, 2025

Brian Stelter, CNN ; Judge dismisses Trump’s copyright lawsuit against Bob Woodward and audiobook publisher

"President Trump’s lawsuit against journalist Bob Woodward and his publishing house Simon & Schuster was dismissed by a federal judge on Friday, the same day that Trump filed a new and unrelated suit against the Wall Street Journal.

US District Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York gave Trump’s legal team a month to file another amended complaint. But for now, he dismissed the current iteration and said “it appears unlikely” that Trump “can adequately plead a plausible copyright interest in ‘The Trump Tapes.’”

Popular Rock Band Demands Trump's DHS Take Down ICE Video Over Copyright Violation: 'And Go F–k Yourselves': "It's obvious that you don't respect Copyright Law"; Latin Times, July 14, 2025

Morgan Music, Latin Times; Popular Rock Band Demands Trump's DHS Take Down ICE Video Over Copyright Violation: 'And Go F–k Yourselves'

"It's obvious that you don't respect Copyright Law"

"The rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC) is demanding that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remove a recent video that used their recording of "God's Gonna Cut You Down" without permission.

The band made their disapproval of the DHS very clear, accusing the agency of violating not only copyright law, but fundamental constitutional values.

"It's obvious that you don't respect Copyright Law and Artist Rights any more than you respect Habeas Corpus and Due Process rights," the band wrote. "Not to mention the separation of Church and State per the US Constitution."

"For the record, we hereby order @dhsgov to cease and desist the use of our recording and demand that you immediately pull down your video," the statement continued.

"Oh, and go f–k yourselves," they concluded."