Top tech firms sign White House pledge to identify AI-generated images; The Washington Post, July 21, 2023

 Cat Zakrzewski, The Washington Post; Top tech firms sign White House pledge to identify AI-generated images

"The White House on Friday announced that seven of the most influential companies building artificial intelligence have agreed to a voluntary pledge to mitigate the risks of the emerging technology, escalating the Biden administration’s involvement in the growing debate over AI regulation.]

The companies — which include Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Chat GPT-maker OpenAI — vowed to allow independent security experts to test their systems before they are released to the public and committed to sharing data about the safety of their systems with the government and academics.

The firms also pledged to develop systems to alert the public when an image, video or text is created by artificial intelligence, a method known as “watermarking.”

In addition to the tech giants, several newer businesses at the forefront of AI development signed the pledge, including Anthropic and Inflection. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post. Interim CEO Patty Stonesifer sits on Amazon’s board.)"

Cheaper TB drugs for millions after global deal on patent rights agreed; The Guardian, July 18, 2023

 Kaamil Ahmed, The Guardian ; Cheaper TB drugs for millions after global deal on patent rights agreed

"Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has struck a deal to allow generic versions of its tuberculosis drug to be supplied to low-income countries – but the deal has been criticised for not going far enough to end the company’s monopoly on global supplies of bedaquiline.

The global patent of the drug ends on Tuesday 18 July, but in a number of countries Johnson & Johnson continues to control the market with secondary patents – for which small modifications are made to a product to extend a patent.

J&J’s decision will allow the Stop TB Partnership coalition to procure and supply generic bedaquiline to 44 low- and middle-income countries through its Global Drug Facility (GDF)."

Llama 2: why is Meta releasing open-source AI model and are there any risks?; The Guardian, July 20, 2023

Dan Milmo , The Guardian; Llama 2: why is Meta releasing open-source AI model and are there any risks?

"Are there concerns about open-source AI?

Tech professionals including Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, have expressed concerns about an AI arms race. Open-sourcing makes a powerful tool in this technology available to all.

Dame Wendy Hall, regius professor of computer science at the University of Southampton, told the Today programme there were questions over whether the tech industry could be trusted to self-regulate LLMs, with the problem looming even larger for open-source models. “It’s a bit like giving people a template to build a nuclear bomb,” she said.

Dr Andrew Rogoyski, of the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey, said open-source models were difficult to regulate. “You can’t really regulate open source. You can regulate the repositories, like Github or Hugging Face, under local legislation,” he said.

“You can issue licence terms on the software that, if abused, could make the abusing company liable under various forms of legal redress. However, being open source means anyone can get their hands on it, so it doesn’t stop the wrong people grabbing the software, nor does it stop anyone from misusing it.”"

US judge finds flaws in artists' lawsuit against AI companies; Reuters, July 19, 2023

 Blake Brittain, Reuters; US judge finds flaws in artists' lawsuit against AI companies

"U.S. District Judge William Orrick said during a hearing in San Francisco on Wednesday that he was inclined to dismiss most of a lawsuit brought by a group of artists against generative artificial intelligence companies, though he would allow them to file a new complaint.

Orrick said that the artists should more clearly state and differentiate their claims against Stability AI, Midjourney and DeviantArt, and that they should be able to "provide more facts" about the alleged copyright infringement because they have access to Stability's relevant source code."

Taco Bell wins 'Taco Tuesday' trademark dispute with rival chain; Reuters, July 18, 2023

Blake Brittain, Reuters ; Taco Bell wins 'Taco Tuesday' trademark dispute with rival chain

"Yum Brands' (YUM.N) Taco Bell prevailed on Tuesday in its self-described bid to "liberate" the phrase "Taco Tuesday," as competing fast-food chain Taco John's told the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) it would abandon its federal "Taco Tuesday" trademark.

Taco Bell had asked the USPTO in May to cancel the trademark, calling it a common phrase that Taco John's had monopolized unfairly in the restaurant industry."

Instagram dodges photographers' copyright claims on appeal – but case likely continues; Reuters, July 18, 2023

 Alison Frankel, Reuters; Instagram dodges photographers' copyright claims on appeal – but case likely continues

"A class of photographers whose Instagram photos were embedded by other websites failed on Monday to convince a three-judge panel at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside controversial precedent in order to hold Instagram liable for copyright infringement.

But the panel also said that the photographers had raised “serious and well argued” policy concerns about copyright holders’ ability to control and profit from their work. If lead plaintiffs Alexis Hunley and Matthew Scott Brauer want to challenge the precedent that controlled the outcome of this case, the panel said, they should petition the 9th Circuit for an en banc rehearing."

The Copyright Office Hears from Stakeholders on Important Issues with AI and Copyright; Library of Congress, Copyright Creativity at Work, July 18, 2023

 Nora Scheland, Library of Congress, Copyright Creativity at Work; The Copyright Office Hears from Stakeholders on Important Issues with AI and Copyright

"Over the past two months, the Copyright Office hosted four public, virtual listening sessions on the use of artificial intelligence to generate creative works. The listening sessions focused on literary works, including print journalism and software; visual arts; audiovisual works, including video games; and music and sound recordings. Artists, creators, AI developers, researchers, lawyers, academics, and more shared their goals, concerns, and experiences related to the use and impact of generative AI.

As we look back on four vibrant sessions, we wanted to share some highlights for those who were not able to join live.

Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter opened the first listening session, on literary works, with a set of guiding questions for all four sessions: “How does current law apply? Should it be changed? [H]ow will the copyright community, from creators to users, be impacted?” She also reminded the audience that the Copyright Office plays a role “both in addressing practical concerns and in advising on policy.”

Following Register Perlmutter’s introductory remarks, participants spoke on two consecutive panels in which they articulated a wide-ranging set of perspectives.

The remaining listening sessions followed a similar format, and some included additional opportunities for comments without further discussion. Copyright Office staff moderated the listening sessions, and Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Policy and International Affairs Maria Strong and General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights Suzy Wilson each made remarks.

At the final listening session, Register Perlmutter observed some of the themes of the series, including that

• there is disagreement about whether, or under what circumstances, training generative AI on copyrighted works could be considered fair use;
• there is considerable interest in developing methods to enhance transparency and education regarding how generative AI produces works, including the possibility of tracking relationships between ingested works and outputs, and understanding how assistive AI is used as a tool in the creation process; and
• many stakeholders still have questions about the Office’s registration guidance for works containing AI-generated material and would like more details and more examples of how the Office will approach applications for such works.

Throughout all four listening sessions, the Office heard from a broad and diverse group of stakeholders, experts, and creatives, including some who do not typically participate in Office roundtables. Among the speakers were a professor of computer and information science; several Academy Award-nominated artists; attorneys for major private actors, including tech companies and music streaming platforms; representatives from various unions, guilds, and trade groups; and independent visual artists, filmmakers, and composers.

The listening sessions broke registration and attendance records for Copyright Office events. Over 4,100 people tuned in over the course of the four sessions. In her final remarks, Register Perlmutter thanked all the panelists for sharing their insights and the public for tuning in. “The Office appreciates the high level of public engagement with these listening sessions,” said Register Perlmutter. “This interest is of course a reflection of the astonishing potential of artificial intelligence, and the impact that its already having in our lives and on society as a whole.”

The feedback and comments provided to the Office during the listening sessions will help guide the next steps in the Office’s AI initiative. The Office is drafting a notice of inquiry, to be published in the Federal Register later this summer, which will solicit written comments from the public on a wide range of issues involving AI and copyright. Issues raised during the sessions will directly inform the questions asked in the notice.

If you missed the listening sessions initially, or want to listen back again, you can review all the materials from each of the sessions on our website, including the agenda, transcript, and full video recording.

Follow copyright.gov/ai for updates, events, and to sign up for email notifications, including to learn when the notice of inquiry is published, on our website."

AI learned from their work. Now they want compensation.; The Washington Post, July 16, 2023

 Gerrit De Vynck, The Washington Post; AI learned from their work. Now they want compensation.

"Artists say the livelihoods of millions of creative workers are at stake, especially because AI tools are already being used to replace some human-made work. Mass scraping of art, writing and movies from the web for AI training is a practice creators say they never considered or consented to.

But in public appearances and in responses to lawsuits, the AI companies have argued that the use of copyrighted works to train AI falls under fair use — a concept in copyright law that creates an exception if the material is changed in a “transformative” way."

Thousands of authors urge AI companies to stop using work without permission; Morning Edition, NPR, July 17, 2023

Chloe Veltman, Morning Edition NPR; Thousands of authors urge AI companies to stop using work without permission

"Thousands of writers including Nora Roberts, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Michael Chabon and Margaret Atwood have signed a letter asking artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI and Meta to stop using their work without permission or compensation."

As pandemic raged, global south lacked vaccines. Never again, researchers vow.; The Washington Post, July 16, 2023

 Amy Maxmen , The Washington Post; As pandemic raged, global south lacked vaccines. Never again, researchers vow.

"Once it became clear that wealthy nations would help themselves to coronavirus vaccines long before poorer nations had access, researchers across Africa, Asia and South America banded together with the World Health Organization. Never again, they vowed, would they allow themselves to be at the mercy of the Western world while a deadly pathogen tore through their regions...

Called the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, a mouthful meant to reflect their intention to share mRNA technology, the initiative is distinct from the typical, competitive mode of drug development in which companies keep discoveries secret."

Study: 87% of Classic Video Games Are Endangered, Mostly Due to Copyright Laws, ExtremeTech, July 12, 2023

 Josh Norem , ExtremeTech; Study: 87% of Classic Video Games Are Endangered, Mostly Due to Copyright Laws

"In a perfect world, you'd be able to find these pieces of history at your local library, just like you do for books and movies. According to the study's authors, outdated copyright laws prevent that from happening."

The Library of Congress marks a year of helping solve copyright disputes; Federal News Network, July 14, 2023

 Tom Temin, Federal News Network; The Library of Congress marks a year of helping solve copyright disputes

"The Copyright Office’s equivalent of small claims court has helped hundreds of people solve disputes in its first year. The three-member Copyright Claims Board will help in cases worth up to $30,000. For a progress report,  Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with Claims Board member Brad Newberg."

'Not for Machines to Harvest’: Data Revolts Break Out Against A.I.; The New York Times, July 15, 2023

 Sheera Frenkel and Stuart A. Thompson, The New York Times;  'Not for Machines to Harvest’: Data Revolts Break Out Against A.I.

"At the heart of the rebellions is a newfound understanding that online information — stories, artwork, news articles, message board posts and photos — may have significant untapped value.

The new wave of A.I. — known as “generative A.I.” for the text, images and other content it generates — is built atop complex systems such as large language models, which are capable of producing humanlike prose. These models are trained on hoards of all kinds of data so they can answer people’s questions, mimic writing styles or churn out comedy and poetry...

“What’s happening here is a fundamental realignment of the value of data,” said Brandon Duderstadt, the founder and chief executive of Nomic, an A.I. company...

“The data rebellion that we’re seeing across the country is society’s way of pushing back against this idea that Big Tech is simply entitled to take any and all information from any source whatsoever, and make it their own,” said Ryan Clarkson, the founder of Clarkson...

Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law, said the lawsuit’s arguments were expansive and unlikely to be accepted by the court. But the wave of litigation is just beginning, he said, with a “second and third wave” coming that would define A.I.’s future."

Trader Joe’s Sues Trader Joe’s United for Copyright Infringement; Vice, July 14, 2023

Jules Roscoe , Vice; Trader Joe’s Sues Trader Joe’s United for Copyright Infringement

"Trader Joe’s filed a lawsuit against its union on Thursday for copyright infringement, claiming that the union’s merchandise was too similar to the Trader Joe’s logo, and demanding that the union’s profits off that merchandise be given to Trader Joe’s."

Generative AI meets copyright; Science, July 13, 2023

PAMELA SAMUELSON, Science; Generative AI meets copyright

"Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a disruptive technology that is widely adopted by members of the general public as well as scientists and technologists who are enthusiastic about the potential to accelerate research in a wide variety of fields. But some professional artists, writers, and programmers fiercely object to the use of their creations as training data for generative AI systems and to outputs that may compete with or displace their works (1, 2). Lack of attribution and compensation for use of their original creations are other sources of aggravation to critics of generative AI. Copyright lawsuits that are now underway in the United States have substantial implications for the future of generative AI systems. If the plaintiffs prevail, the only generative AI systems that may be lawful in the United States would be those trained on public domain works or under licenses, which will affect everyone who deploys generative AI, integrates it into their products, and uses it for scientific research."

"Shadow libraries" are at the heart of the mounting copyright lawsuits against OpenAI; Quartz, July 10, 2023

Michelle Cheng, Quartz; "Shadow libraries" are at the heart of the mounting copyright lawsuits against OpenAI

"However, there are clues about these two data sets. “Books1” is linked to Project Gutenberg (an online e-book library with over 60,000 titles), a popular dataset for AI researchers to train their data on due to the lack of copyright, the filing states. “Books2” is estimated to contain about 294,000 titles, it notes.

Most of the “internet-based books corpora” is likely to come from shadow library websites such as Library Genesis, Z-Library, Sci-Hub, and Bibliotik. The books aggregated by these sites are available in bulk via torrent websites, which are known for hosting copyrighted materials. 

What exactly are shadow libraries?

Shadow libraries are online databases that provide access to millions of books and articles that are out of print, hard to obtain, and paywalled. Many of these databases, which began appearing online around 2008, originated in Russia, which has a long tradition of sharing forbidden books, according to the magazine Reason.

Soon enough, these libraries became popular with cash-strapped academics around the world thanks to the high cost of accessing scholarly journals—with some reportedly going for as much as $500 for an entirely open-access article.

These shadow libraries are also called “pirate libraries” because they often infringe on copyrighted work and cut into the publishing industry’s profits. A 2017 Nielsen and Digimarc study (pdf) found that pirated books were “depressing legitimate book sales by as much as 14%.”"

Aretha Franklin’s Estate: Why Copyrights Require Estate Planning.; Forbes, July 13, 2023

Matthew Erskine, Forbes; Aretha Franklin’s Estate: Why Copyrights Require Estate Planning.

"The news of the recent resolution of the Aretha Franklin estate is a high profile, and expensive, lesson in how not to manage copyrights in an estate. At least there was what the Court found to be her will, unlike the six yearlong court fight that resolved last year in the Prince estate. You may think that this is only an issue for celebrities, but, with the ease of producing, generating, and creating materials, such as blog posts, YouTube videos, music, art, photographs or eBooks, more and more people are now owners of copyrights. These copyrights should be considered assets and an integral part of the client’s estate. Such planning includes the management and distribution of copyright assets after the copyright owner passes away. Proper estate planning can ensure the protection and transfer of copyright ownership, as well as provide for the financial well-being of heirs and beneficiaries.

Here are some important considerations for estate planning related to copyrights:"

Sullivan & Cromwell hires former USPTO head, Federal Circuit judge; Reuters, July 11, 2023

Blake Brittain, Reuters; Sullivan & Cromwell hires former USPTO head, Federal Circuit judge

"Sullivan & Cromwell announced on Tuesday that it has hired former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director Andrei Iancu and former federal judge Kathleen O'Malley, bolstering the prominent New York-founded law firm's patent practice.

Iancu and O'Malley both joined Sullivan & Cromwell from intellectual property-focused law firm Irell & Manella. Iancu, Irell's managing partner from 2012 to 2018, rejoined the firm in 2021 after heading the USPTO during Donald Trump's presidency. O'Malley joined Irell last year after retiring from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit."

Shein Named in Copyright, Racketeering Lawsuit Over Alleged Infringement Scheme; TFL, July 12, 2023

 TFL; Shein Named in Copyright, Racketeering Lawsuit Over Alleged Infringement Scheme

"Shein is facing a new lawsuit that accuses the Chinese retail titan of not only carrying out “large-scale and systematic intellectual property theft from U.S. designers large and small,” but of also engaging in infringement-related racketeering activities in the process. According to the complaint that they filed in a California federal court on Tuesday, independent designers Krista Perry, Larissa Martinez, and Jay Baron claim that Shein and various related entities, including Roadget Business and Zoetop Business, (collectively, “Shein”) are on the hook for copyright and trademark infringement in connection with their practice of “produc[ing], distribut[ing], and selling exact copies of their creative works,” which they allege is “part and parcel of Shein’s ‘design’ process and organizational DNA.”...

For each new product sold on Shein’s website, the plaintiffs claim that the initial production run is as low as 100-200 units per SKU, compared to “the thousands of pieces typically produced by traditional peer retailers.” The purpose of this is that it enables Shein to “wait to see if anybody complains that the design was stolen,” and if they do, it can swiftly settle with the company."

Music & Tech Executives Testify on Artificial Intelligence & Copyright; C-Span, July 12, 2023

C-Span; Music & Tech Executives Testify on Artificial Intelligence & Copyright

"Music industry and tech company executives as well as a visual artist and a law professor testified on artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact on copyright and intellectual property before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee. Topics included publicity and fair use of content, an opt-out process for creators, notating content that has been created using AI, deep fake technology, and ways that Congress can help protect intellectual property."

Does Section 230 cover artificial intelligence? Experts are not sure; ABC7, July 11, 2023

 GRAYCE MCCORMICK , ABC7; Does Section 230 cover artificial intelligence? Experts are not sure

"Burk said the decision over whether Section 230 covers generative AI boils down to whether the product is an informational product or a product with manufacturer liability...

It’s hard for us to imagine what social media would be like today without the protection of Section 230, or if it would have even been possible to develop without the risk of lawsuits.

On the other hand, there could be benefits to dictating how it’s developed, considering certain social media platforms’ documented harms.

“If you can identify discrete problems and you have an idea of the outcome that you would like to have or the outcomes you’re worried about, you can actually shape the development of technology into a socially desirable path,” Burk said. He cited products like automobiles and pharmaceuticals, which are now manufactured to be as safe as possible."

Three things to know about how the US Congress might regulate AI; MIT Technology Review, July 3, 2023

 Tate Ryan-Mosley, MIT Technology Review ; Three things to know about how the US Congress might regulate AI

"Here are three key themes in all this chatter that you should know to help you understand where US AI legislation could be going."

Google hit with class-action lawsuit over AI data scraping; Reuters, July 11, 2023

Blake Brittain, Reuters ; Google hit with class-action lawsuit over AI data scraping

"Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) was accused in a proposed class action lawsuit on Tuesday of misusing vast amounts of personal information and copyrighted material to train its artificial intelligence systems.

The complaint, filed in San Francisco federal court by eight individuals seeking to represent millions of internet users and copyright holders, said Google's unauthorized scraping of data from websites violated their privacy and property rights."

Over 150 top execs fear Europe will create a ‘critical productivity gap’ with the U.S. if the EU overregulates A.I.; Fortune, June 30, 2023

RACHEL SHIN , Fortune; Over 150 top execs fear Europe will create a ‘critical productivity gap’ with the U.S. if the EU overregulates A.I.

"European business leaders are worried that the EU will overregulate A.I. and leave Europe trailing the U.S. in future productivity. A group of over 150 executives including the CEOs of Renault and Siemens, the executive director of Heineken, and the chief A.I. scientist of Meta, signed an open letter to the European Parliament on Friday, requesting the government pull back their proposed restrictions."

EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence; European Parliament News, June 14, 2023

 European Parliament News ; EU AI Act: first regulation on artificial intelligence

"As part of its digital strategy, the EU wants to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure better conditions for the development and use of this innovative technology. AI can create many benefits, such as better healthcare; safer and cleaner transport; more efficient manufacturing; and cheaper and more sustainable energy.

In April 2021, the European Commission proposed the first EU regulatory framework for AI. It says that AI systems that can be used in different applications are analysed and classified according to the risk they pose to users. The different risk levels will mean more or less regulation. Once approved, these will be the world’s first rules on AI."

Defining Data: Improving Terminology Around Generative AI Models; IP Watchdog, June 21, 2023

FRANKLIN GRAVES & ELIZABETH ROTHMAN , IP Watchdog; Defining Data: Improving Terminology Around Generative AI Models

"Generative AI tools are here to stay and will continue to become even more engrained into the products, services, and experiences we encounter on a daily basis. Improving the terminology is an important step as we move forward."

What Sarah Silverman’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Meta really means | The AI Beat; Venture Beat, July 10, 2023

Sharon Goldman , Venture Beat; What Sarah Silverman’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Meta really means | The AI Beat

"Legal AI issues around copyright and ‘fair use’ growing louder 

These legal issues around copyright and “fair use” are not going away — in fact, they go to the heart of what today’s LLMs are made of — that is, the training data. As I discussed last week, web scraping for massive amounts of data can arguably be described as the secret sauce of generative AI. AI chatbots like ChatGPT, LLaMA, Claude (from Anthropic) and Bard (from Google) can spit out coherent text because they were trained on massive corpora of data, mostly scraped from the internet. And as the size of today’s LLMs like GPT-4 have ballooned to hundreds of billions of tokens, so has the hunger for data."

Crocs and rival footwear maker Joybees clash over trade secrets in US court; Reuters, July 7, 2023

  Mike Scarcella, Reuters; Crocs and rival footwear maker Joybees clash over trade secrets in US court

"Footwear makers Crocs (CROX.O) and rival Joybees have filed competing claims against each other in U.S. court in Colorado, as the companies clash over corporate trade secrets, intellectual property and competition in the market for casual shoes.

Crocs sued Joybees in federal court on Thursday, expanding on a separate lawsuit that the Colorado-based company filed in 2021. The new complaint, accusing Joybees and its chief executive of unfair competition, came a day after Joybees filed claims in the same court against Crocs."

Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement; The Verge, July 9, 2023

Wes Davis, The Verge ; Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement

"Comedian and author Sarah Silverman, as well as authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey — are suing OpenAI and Meta each in a US District Court over dual claims of copyright infringement. 

The suits alleges, among other things, that OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s LLaMA were trained on illegally-acquired datasets containing their works, which they say were acquired from “shadow library” websites like Bibliotik, Library Genesis, Z-Library, and others, noting the books are “available in bulk via torrent systems.”"

Poet and translator to sue British Museum for copyright and moral rights infringement; The Art Newspaper, July 7, 2023

 Anny Shaw, The Art Newspaper; Poet and translator to sue British Museum for copyright and moral rights infringement

"Sharples notes that the legal case will not only focus on copyright, but also Wang’s moral rights, in particular the right to attribution—or the right to be named or identified as the author."

IP Considerations in Protecting Autonomous Vehicle Software with Patents and Copyrights; National Law Review, July 6, 2023

Foley & Lardner LLP, National Law Review; IP Considerations in Protecting Autonomous Vehicle Software with Patents and Copyrights

"As autonomous vehicles and associated software become more commonplace in the automotive industry, it is important to recognize which forms of intellectual property grant protection within quickly evolving areas of technology and to understand how to obtain registration and enjoy the advantages within an increasingly competitive landscape. Autonomous vehicles are unique in the automotive industry because they incorporate new forms of technology not commonly embedded in automobiles. This can include, image recognition systems, LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), and most importantly complex software incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning. Intellectual property protection enables autonomous vehicle developers to get ahead of their competitors, create an environment in which research and innovation are incentivized, stop others from infringing protected technology, and can allow technology to be further monetized through licensing agreements.

A comprehensive IP strategy using both patents and copyrights can help protect key technology."

Copyright Infringement Suit Involving Nirvana and Dante’s ‘Inferno’ Illustration Heads to the UK; ArtNews, July 5, 2023

DANIEL CASSADY , ArtNews; Copyright Infringement Suit Involving Nirvana and Dante’s ‘Inferno’ Illustration Heads to the UK

"According to Bundy, not only are Nirvana and Live Nation using her grandfather’s work without permission but they are also claiming ownership of the work and adding copyright notices to the image.

Nirvana and Live Nation’s legal representative told Courthouse News that in the United States the image has been in the public domain since at least 1949. “Resolving the claims will require determinations of complex English and German copyright law issues based on decades-old documents and witnesses in England,” the attorneys added."

Why Does the U.S. Copyright Office Require Libraries to Lie to Users about Their Fair Use Rights? They Won’t Say.; The Scholarly Kitchen, July 5, 2023

RICK ANDERSON, The Scholarly Kitchen; Why Does the U.S. Copyright Office Require Libraries to Lie to Users about Their Fair Use Rights? They Won’t Say.

"Let’s be clear about what the problem is here. It’s not that patrons who use library-provided copies of copyrighted works in a manner beyond the scope of “private study, scholarship, or research” are in legal danger if their use falls within the full range of the fair use provisions in section 107. Again, the language of section 108 makes it very clear that owners of such copies are entirely within their rights to make full (fair) use of them, regardless of what the copyright warning notice prescribed by the Copyright Office says. The problem is that the Copyright Office, under color of authority ostensibly assigned to it by statute, requires libraries to misinform patrons about their rights. Although library patrons are in reality free to make full fair use of copies we provide them (or copies they make on our premises), we must tell them – every time they make or request a copy from us – that they have only a small subset of those rights.

How much does this disinformation end up constraining patrons’ exercise of their full rights under the law? It’s impossible to know, of course. But as a profession that sees itself at the vanguard of the fight against both mis- and disinformation, it certainly should rankle us that we’ve been drafted into a disinformation campaign that affects so many information seekers so directly.

It should rankle us even more that the U.S. Copyright Office, the very entity that has created this issue and is uniquely empowered to fix it, seems to have no interest in doing so. I hope my library colleagues (and everyone else who cares about libraries and archives, and about fair use) will join me in calling on the Copyright Office to change the language of its prescribed copyright warning notice, bringing it into full conformity with what the law actually says. (I’ve created an online petition for this purpose, and encourage all interested to sign it.)"

Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads; Semafor, July 6, 2023

 Max Tani, Semarfor; Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads

"Twitter is threatening legal action against Meta over its new text-based “Twitter killer” platform, accusing the social media giant of poaching former employees to create a “copycat” application.

On Wednesday, Instagram parent company Meta introduced Threads, a text-based companion to Instagram that resembles Twitter and other text-based social platforms. Just hours later, a lawyer for Twitter, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg accusing the company of engaging in “systematic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.”

“Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information,” Spiro wrote in a letter obtained exclusively by Semafor. “Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice to prevent any further retention, disclosure, or use of its intellectual property by Meta.”

Spiro accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who “had and continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.”

'Peaky Blinders' creators blast DeSantis for copyright violation in controversial ad; UPI, 7/5/23

 Adam Schrader, UPI; 'Peaky Blinders' creators blast DeSantis for copyright violation in controversial ad

"The production team for the hit series Peaky Blinders has ripped Ron DeSantis for copyright violation after the Florida governor used a clip of Cillian Murphy's character in the show without license or permission...

The video, which lasts just over a minute, criticizes Trump for seemingly supporting multiple gay-rights topics, as well as selling "LGBTQ for Trump" shirts, saying he would allow Caitlyn Jenner to use the bathroom at Trump Tower and for celebrating Pride Month in a 2019 tweet. Midway through, the video switches to a meme-filled, music-driven celebration of all the steps DeSantis has made to strip people of their rights in Florida.

The bizarre clip includes several extremely quick shots of Murphy as Thomas Shelby, the fictional boss of a brutal crime family in Britain in the 1920s, smoking a cigarette as if comparing DeSantis' leadership style with that of a criminal."

The copyright battles against OpenAI have begun; Quartz, July 6. 2023

Faustine Ngila, Quartz; The copyright battles against OpenAI have begun

Let the AI copyright battles begin... 

"With this latest lawsuit from Tremblay and Awad, regulators and courts will be tasked with mulling over the rules of copyright with regards to AI. They may require generative AI companies to disclose how and where they sourced their training data, letting the world peek inside the black box of these AI systems for the very first time."

Trump Lawyers Argue Copyright Suit Against Woodward, S&S Should Proceed; Publishers Weekly, July 3, 2023

Andrew Albanese, Forbes ; Trump Lawyers Argue Copyright Suit Against Woodward, S&S Should Proceed

"In a filing last week, lawyers for former president Donald Trump argued that Trump's $50 million copyright lawsuit against bestselling author Bob Woodward and publisher Simon & Schuster over the audiobook, The Trump Tapes: The Historical Record, should be allowed to proceed...

Trump's latest filing comes in response to a motion to dismiss by Woodward and S&S, which, among its arguments, insists that because the interviews were conducted while Trump was acting in his capacity as president of the United States, Trump holds no copyright interest in them. Trump's claim "offends the basic principle codified in the Copyright Act that government officials cannot own the words they speak while carrying out official duties," lawyers for Woodward and S&S argue, adding that "President Trump’s unprecedented effort to extract private benefit from his public duties should be dismissed in its entirety.""