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Mealey's Copyright

  • November 14, 2025

    OpenAI Must Produce 20 Million Chat Logs, Magistrate Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI entities must produce 20 million ChatGPT chat logs after a federal magistrate judge in New York said the company never explained why existing protective orders and its own de-identification efforts would not sufficiently protect user privacy.

  • November 13, 2025

    Company To Meta: Thousands Of Pornographic Movies Weren’t For Personal Use

    SAN FRANCISCO — Thousands of pornographic movies downloaded to 47 internet addresses associated with Meta Platforms Inc. suggest an attempt to conceal the theft of copyrighted material used to train its artificial intelligence rather than personal use, two pornography companies tell a federal judge in California in opposing dismissal of their action.

  • November 11, 2025

    High Court Won’t Consider If Car Named ‘Eleanor’ Is A Copyrightable Character

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in a copyright dispute over a Ford Mustang known as “Eleanor” in the film “Gone in 60 Seconds,” declining to consider whether the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly held that the car is not a copyrightable character under a test within the circuit.

  • November 11, 2025

    Copyright Register Opposes High Court Stay Of Injunction In Court Battle Over Post

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump and others should not be granted a stay of an interlocutory injunction by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case over the president’s ability to remove Shira Perlmutter from her position as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office as the applicants have failed to show they are likely to succeed on the merits of their claims or that they will be irreparably harmed without such a stay, Perlmutter argues in a Nov. 10 opposition.

  • November 10, 2025

    High Court Allows Government Participation In ISP Infringement Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 10 granted the U.S. government’s motion to participate in oral argument when the high court considers whether it should overturn a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that an internet service provider (ISP) is liable for contributory infringement for internet users who pirated copyrighted materials of record labels and music publishers; the high court also granted the government’s request for divided argument.

  • November 07, 2025

    Judge Consolidates Disney, Warner Bros. AI Suits Against Midjourney

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California consolidated two artificial intelligence copyright actions — one involving Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and the second Disney Enterprises Inc. — alleging that Midjourney Inc.’s artificial intelligence outputs the entertainment companies’ copyrighted characters.

  • November 06, 2025

    Perplexity: Engineered Prompts Can’t Form Basis Of AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — Perplexity AI Inc. told a federal judge in New York in a motion to dismiss that outputs resulting from prompts engineered by plaintiff Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. cannot form the basis of a copyright claim and that the plaintiff has not sufficiently identified the protected works in question.

  • November 04, 2025

    UMG Announces Agreement With Udio AI Music Platform, Resolving Copyright Claims

    NEW YORK — Universal Music Group (UMG) announced a partnership under which its licensed music will power a subscription service with artificial intelligence music company Uncharted Labs Inc. d/b/a Udio.com and will resolve the music publisher’s portion of a copyright case just as a motion to dismiss was wrapping up.

  • November 03, 2025

    7th Circuit: Judge Wrong To Ignore Choice Of Damages Type In Copyright Default

    CHICAGO — While acknowledging the influx of copyright cases against anonymous online marketplaces and the strain it has caused on Illinois federal courts, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a federal judge was wrong to choose statutory damages over disgorgement of profits for an alternative-style apparel plaintiff against online sellers that failed to appear.

  • November 03, 2025

    AI Artist Seeks Hold Of Petition Pending Copyright Agency Leadership Decisions

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hold consideration of his petition for a writ of certiorari in a case challenging denial of copyright protection for an artificial intelligence-generated piece of artwork while courts decide whether Shira Perlmutter can continue to serve as head of the U.S. Copyright Office.

  • October 31, 2025

    Government Won’t Reply To AI Image Copyright Protection Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The federal government filed a notice that it was waiving its right to respond to a man’s petition for a writ of certiorari in which he tells the U.S. Supreme Court that copyright protections are in place to ensure dissemination of creative works to the public even when a human is not the owner and should apply to artificial intelligence-generated outputs for the same reasons.

  • October 31, 2025

    ISP Maintains Argument To High Court That It Is Not Liable For Piracy

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 30 reply brief, an internet service provider (ISP) maintains its argument before the U.S. Supreme Court that it must overturn a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals finding that it is liable for contributory infringement for internet users who pirated copyrighted materials of record labels and music publishers.

  • October 30, 2025

    Pornography Downloads Likely Personal Use, Not AI Training, Meta Claims

    SAN FRANCISCO — The small amount of adult videos downloaded by IP addresses associated with Meta Platforms Inc. were likely downloaded for personal use and not for training artificial intelligence, the company says in asking a federal judge in California to dismiss copyright infringement claims.

  • October 28, 2025

    OpenAI Must Face ChatGPT Output Copyright Claims, Judge Says

    SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI entities must face class claims alleging that ChatGPT outputs material substantially similar to copyrighted works, the federal judge in New York overseeing the multidistrict litigation said Oct. 27.

  • October 28, 2025

    Trump, Others Seek Supreme Court Stay In Battle Over Copyright Register Job

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. president has the power to remove executive officers, including the register of copyrights, the acting librarian of congress, President Donald J. Trump and others argue in an Oct. 27 U.S. Supreme Court application seeking to stay an interlocutory injunction by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

  • October 28, 2025

    Pair Of New Class Actions Adds To Copyright Headaches For AI Companies

    Two new class actions filed in California federal court are the latest challenges to companies’ use of data to train artificial intelligence, with plaintiffs in separate suits claiming that Apple Inc. and Salesforce Inc. used pirated copyrighted material as training data.

  • October 24, 2025

    Amici To High Court: Reversing Finding Against ISP Would Reward Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In one of 10 amicus curiae briefs filed in support of record labels and music publishers, the Copyright Alliance tells the U.S. Supreme Court that it must affirm the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding of contributory infringement against an internet service provider (ISP), arguing that the Fourth Circuit was correct in its finding of willful infringement.

  • October 24, 2025

    Car Company Asks 9th Circuit To Rethink Fee Denial In Car Chase Film IP Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A classic car company and its owners tell a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that it erred when it denied the company’s request for attorney fees, arguing that the panel by necessity ruled on a breach of contract claim when it held in May that a Ford Mustang known as “Eleanor” in the film “Gone in 60 Seconds” is not a copyrightable character under a Ninth Circuit test.

  • October 22, 2025

    Judge Finds Songwriters’ Copyright Claims Against Pop Singer, UMG Fail

    MIAMI — A federal judge in Florida dismissed with prejudice a copyright infringement complaint filed by two songwriters against a Brazilian pop singer and UMG Recordings Inc., holding that the songwriters failed to plausibly allege access or substantial similarity between their song and the 2023 hit single “Funk Rave.”

  • October 22, 2025

    3rd Circuit: Judge Failed To Explain Denial Of DMCA Subpoena Sought By Streamer

    PHILADELPHIA — A Delaware federal judge should have explained the reason for denying a YouTube and Twitch streamer’s motion for a subpoena requiring Google LLC and another platform to identify certain allegedly infringing users under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, vacating the judge’s dismissal and remanding for further proceedings.

  • October 20, 2025

    7th Circuit Affirms Copyright Win For Rapper French Montana

    CHICAGO — In a matter of first impression for the court, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed an Illinois federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment to a rapper accused by a producer of copyright infringement because the producer failed to show that the rapper copied a beat he made “as opposed to merely imitating it,” but the panel also affirmed the judge’s decision to deny the rapper’s request for fees.

  • October 20, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Design Firm’s Floor Plan Fair Use Arguments

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a design company’s petition for a writ of certiorari in an Oct. 20 order list, setting aside the company’s contention that the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ holding that two real estate agents’ use of floor plans in resale listings was a noninfringing fair use created a doctrinal “Catch-22” that prevents architectural copyright holders from enforcing their rights.

  • October 17, 2025

    Judge Won’t Hasten Damages Deadline, Says Anthropic Must Face Copyright Claims

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a pair of rulings, a federal judge in California said she would not hasten previous deadlines for music publishers to produce damages estimates and that the artificial intelligence copyright claims against Anthropic PBC may proceed.

  • October 16, 2025

    Labels Tell High Court ISP Knowingly Provided Service To Infringers

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Record labels and music publishers tell the U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 15 response brief that an internet service provider (ISP) continued to provide internet service to individuals it knew were “‘habitual offenders’” of piracy, thus making the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding of contributory infringement correct.

  • October 15, 2025

    Copyright Protection Extends To AI Images, Man Tells Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Copyright protections are in place to ensure dissemination of creative works to the public and are invoked even when a human is not the creator and should apply to artificial intelligence-generated outputs for the same reasons, a man tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for a writ of certiorari.