Webb Wright , The Drum; What you need to know about the copyright issues surrounding generative AI
"“The basic question of whether or not an AI using copyrighted work constitutes copyright infringement is for now an open issue,” says patent attorney Robert McFarlane. Ultimately, McFarlane believes that some uses of generative AI will be deemed to constitute copyright infringement, while others won’t. “These cases that are just starting now are going to try to draw that line,” he says."
WILL BEDINGFIELD, Wired; Generative AI in Games Will Create a Copyright Crisis
"As lame as this story is, it hints at a knotty copyright issue the games industry is only just beginning to unravel. I’ve created a story using my imagination—but to do that I’ve used an AI helper. So who wrote the tale? And who gets paid for the work?"
Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly; Obituary: Marybeth Peters, Former Register of Copyrights
Peters spent her career working in the copyright field, and was considered a leading expert on both international and domestic copyright issues. Prior to her appointment as Register of Copyrights, Peters held a variety of positions in the copyright office. During her time there, Peters played a key role in adapting copyright to the digital age, including helping to implement both the 1976 Copyright Act and the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The controversial Google Book Search lawsuit also took place during her tenure, and Peters was critical of the proposed settlement, arguing that it was at odds with the law. The settlement was eventually rejected by Judge Denny Chin."
Cristiano Lima with research by Aaron Schaffer, The Washington Post; Stephen G. Breyer may shape tech’s copyright battles for years to come
"Stephen G. Breyer may shape tech’s copyright battles for years to come
With the looming retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, tech policy wonks say the high court is losing one of the nation’s preeminent thought leaders on intellectual property and copyright.
But while Breyer may be on his way out of federal court, his influence over those standards, and how they map onto emerging technologies, is poised to live on long after.
For decades, Breyer has carved out a unique role on the bench as a copyright specialist, said Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at consumer group Public Knowledge. And his advocacy for a more limited view of intellectual property rights than some of his colleagues, such as the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, made him a “rarity” in the space, Rose said.
“He’s definitely got the biggest depth of experience in copyright issues on the bench currently,” she said. “It was really him and Justice Ginsburg were the two titans of copyright.”
Corynne McSherry, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, called Breyer “a very strong voice for a balanced intellectual property system” that ensured that copyright and patents are “encouraging innovation, encouraging new creativity … as opposed to thwarting it.”
These traits, they said, were exemplified in one of Breyer’s most recent high-profile copyright cases: the contentious, decade-long Google v. Oracle bout."
Jake Evans, ABC News; Aboriginal flag copyright transferred to Commonwealth, as artist agrees to make flag freely available to all
"The iconic flag that has become a symbol of Aboriginal Australia is now freely available for public use, after its designer agreed to transfer copyright to the Commonwealth following long negotiations.
Luritja artist Harold Thomas created the flag in 1970 to represent Aboriginal people and their connection to the land, and it has been an official national flag since the end of the last century — but its copyright remained with Mr Thomas.
Anyone who wanted to use the flag legally had to ask permission or pay a fee.
Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt said following negotiations with Mr Thomas, the flag now belonged to all Australians...
Copyright issues with the flag had repeatedly drawn conflict, such as when Mr Thomas handed the rights to use the flag on clothing to a non-Indigenous company, which later threatened legal action against the NRL and AFL for using the flag on player uniforms.
That led to Mr Wyatt encouraging football fans to drape themselves in the Aboriginal flag in protest.
Mr Thomas will retain moral rights over the flag, but has agreed to give up copyright in return for all future royalties the Commonwealth receives from flag sales to be put towards the ongoing work of NAIDOC.
The government has also agreed to establish an annual scholarship in Mr Thomas's honour worth $100,000 for Indigenous students to develop skills in leadership, and to create an online history and education portal for the flag."
