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Mealey's Copyright

  • December 18, 2024

    9th Circuit Agrees No Similarity Between Stage Show, Television Show

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge rightly granted summary judgment in favor of a defendant film studio and associated entities that were accused by a writer of copying elements of a stage play and derivative works she wrote in their ongoing television drama series, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, agreeing with the trial judge that there was no substantial similarity between the works.

  • December 18, 2024

    OpenAI Seeks Dismissal Of YouTube UCL Claims, Says Injury, Conduct Lacking

    SAN FRANCISCO — Copyright law preempts a man’s California unfair competition law (UCL) claims in an artificial intelligence action, and the vague allegations about using YouTube videos in training ChatGPT lack any economic injury or deceptive conduct on which they could be brought and would fail anyway, OpenAI entities tell a federal judge in California in seeking dismissal with prejudice.

  • December 17, 2024

    9th Circuit: Judge Wrongly Held Software Was ‘Derivative’ In Copyright Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — A partially split panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 16 vacated or reversed large portions of a Nevada federal judge’s finding in a long-stewing copyright case between two software companies, holding that much of the judge’s decision was based on an erroneous understanding of “derivative work.”

  • December 17, 2024

    Special Master Appointed In Music Industry AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York overseeing a music industry copyright suit involving artificial intelligence appointed a special master to the case, saying outstanding issues related to electronically stored information require more attention than the court can provide and that the appointment will help resolve the litigation.

  • December 16, 2024

    Publisher: High Court Must Reject Canadian Code-Maker’s Copyright Cert Bid

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 13 opposition brief, a publication company tells the U.S. Supreme Court that the court should reject a petition for a writ of certiorari from a developer of Canadian legal codes and standards, arguing that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was correct to hold that the codes are effectively uncopyrightable “law” in Canada when it reversed a Texas federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in the Canadian developer’s favor.

  • December 11, 2024

    OpenAI Challenges Ruling Denying Evidence Of New York Times’ AI Use

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. objected to a magistrate judge’s decision denying the company access to evidence of how the New York Times Co. uses artificial intelligence, saying the ruling permits the newspaper company to speak “out of both sides of its mouth” by allowing it to seek billions of dollar in damages while embracing the same technology it denigrates.

  • December 10, 2024

    5th Circuit Rejects Rehearing Petitions From ISP, Labels In Copyright Fight

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected petitions for rehearing from parties on both sides of a copyright infringement suit, standing by its October decision to affirm a Texas federal jury’s finding that an internet service provider (ISP) was vicariously liable for copyright infringement by failing to prevent the piracy of plaintiff music labels’ copyrighted works but to reverse the judge’s holding that the ISP was separately liable for infringement for each of more than a thousand songs.

  • December 09, 2024

    3rd Circuit: Default Judgments Improper In Bacon Grease Copyright Case

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge inappropriately granted default judgment in a copyright infringement suit only two hours after the plaintiff company moved for it, thereby failing to give the defendants appropriate notice, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in one of two appeals stemming from two orders declining to reverse entries of default judgment.

  • December 05, 2024

    Judge: OpenAI Must Produce Social Media; Company Disputes Discovery Destruction

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. and various news entities that accuse it of using their copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence briefed a federal judge in New York over whether discovery evidence was deleted or merely reformatted and presents no obstruction to ongoing searches of the training material.  In a separate ruling, the judge concluded that the New York Times Co.’s knowledge and use of AI tools are not relevant or proportional to the needs of the defendants’ fair use defense and denied a motion to compel.  In another ruling, the judge said California labor law does not preclude OpenAI Inc. entities and Microsoft Corp. from producing work-related communications conducted through social media.

  • December 05, 2024

    OpenAI Disputes Claim It Ruined Discovery; Judge Denies Motion To Compel

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. and various news entities that accuse it of using their copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence briefed a federal judge in New York over whether discovery evidence was deleted or merely reformatted and presents no obstruction to ongoing searches of the training material.  In a separate ruling, the judge concluded that the New York Times Co.’s knowledge and use of AI tools are not relevant or proportional to the needs of the defendants’ fair use defense and denied a motion to compel.

  • December 04, 2024

    Judge: Producer Fails To Show He Owns Rap Group’s Trademarks, Copyright

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge dismissed with prejudice trademark and copyright claims stemming from a dispute over ownership of intellectual property associated with a seminal hip-hop group, with the judge holding that the plaintiff music producer failed to show that the trademark in question was valid, along with multiple other failures.

  • December 03, 2024

    2nd Circuit: Judge Right To Toss Funk Music Infringement Counterclaims

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 2 affirmed a New York federal judge’s decision to dismiss a counterclaim from a defendant record company and associated entities seeking a declaratory judgment of noninfringement in a dispute over the ownership of songs by an influential funk musician, agreeing with the judge that the counterclaim was time-barred because a studio head was aware of alleged infringement in the 1970s.

  • December 02, 2024

    Judge: Designer Willfully Defaulted In Copyright Dispute With Photographer

    NEW YORK — A web designer and his company are not entitled to the vacating of an entry of default judgment in a copyright suit brought against them by a photographer, a federal judge in New York held, saying that there is “overwhelming” evidence of willfulness in support of the default judgment entered nearly five years ago.

  • December 02, 2024

    Trademark, Copyright Claims Survive In Boat-Mooring Product Dispute

    NEW HAVEN, Conn. — In a trademark and copyright infringement dispute between two competing companies that make boat mooring products, a Connecticut federal judge denied the defendant company’s motion to dismiss the case, holding that the plaintiff company adequately substantiated its claims to survive the motion.

  • November 27, 2024

    OpenAI Disputes Claim It Ruined News Plaintiffs AI Search Results

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc. and various news entities that accuse it of using their copyrighted works to train artificial intelligence briefed a federal judge in New York over whether discovery evidence was deleted or merely reformatted allowing the plaintiffs to rerun searches of the training material.

  • November 26, 2024

    Petitioner Tells High Court 5th Circuit Contract Ruling Could Affect Copyrights

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Days after a plaintiff software company filed a petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a $1.6 billion award in a contract dispute with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), IBM on Nov. 25 waived its right to respond to the petition.

  • November 25, 2024

    High Court Invites Solicitor General’s Input In Copyright Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Nov. 25 docket order, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the U.S. solicitor general to file a brief expressing the views of the U.S. government in a dispute involving dueling petitions for writs of certiorari in which a group of record labels and music publishers say the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly vacated a $1 billion award for vicarious copyright infringement by an internet service provider (ISP), while the ISP argues that the Fourth Circuit erred in finding that it is liable for contributory infringement.

  • November 22, 2024

    Judge Won’t Toss Copyright Claims Regarding Photo Of Alvin Bragg

    NEW YORK — In a copyright infringement dispute between a photographer and a New York City law firm, a New York federal judge agreed to dismiss claims of contributory and vicarious infringement, holding that the photographer cannot simultaneously allege that the law firm is directly and vicariously responsible for infringement by allegedly posting a photograph she took on an account on a Chinese-language promotional website site she claims the firm controls.

  • November 21, 2024

    Singer Settles ‘Electric Avenue’ Copyright Claims With Trump, Campaign

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Nov. 20 discontinued with prejudice a copyright dispute between singer Edmond “Eddy” Grant and President-elect Donald J. Trump and his re-election campaign over the campaign’s usage of Grant’s song “Electric Avenue” in his unsuccessful 2020 re-election bid; it is the second such case brought by a musical artist against the Trump campaign to have reached a conclusion in the days after Trump’s electoral success.

  • November 20, 2024

    Journalism Plaintiff Defends ‘Abridgement’ Claims In AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — Artificial intelligence companies may not simply remove copyright management information from news stories, distribute the material among themselves and then create chatbots producing abridged and competing versions of the stories, the nonprofit publisher of Mother Jones told a federal judge in New York in opposing a motion to dismiss.

  • November 20, 2024

    MosaicML AI Model Defendants Seek Consolidation Of Authors’ Lawsuits

    SAN FRANCISCO — An artificial intelligence company asked a federal judge in California to consolidate three authors’ copyright class action lawsuit involving the training of large language models with a second suit also involving authors.

  • November 20, 2024

    Judge: Singer’s Estate Tried Too Late To Toss Labels’ Contract Counterclaims

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge denied a motion from the plaintiff estate of a late singer to dismiss a breach of contract counterclaim from defendant record labels in a dispute stemming from copyrights and trademarks associated with the singer’s work and likeness, holding that the motion was untimely brought.

  • November 19, 2024

    Fair Use, Copyright At Issue In AI Legal Research Summary Judgment Briefing

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Whether it was unlawful to train an artificial intelligence on a “vanishingly small” amount of protected legal research material and whether a copyright can even protect legal research product when the underlying materials were all in the public domain come before a federal judge in Delaware on briefing for motions for summary judgment.  Redacted versions of the reply briefs were filed Nov. 18.

  • November 12, 2024

    The White Stripes Drop Copyright Suit Against Trump Camp After Election Win

    NEW YORK — In the days after President-elect Donald J. Trump won his reelection bid, former members of alternative rock band The White Stripes dropped a copyright infringement complaint against the president-elect over the allegedly infringing use of the band’s song “Seven Nation Army” without its consent.

  • November 11, 2024

    Magistrate: Sports Store Owed Fees In Copyright Case After Summary Judgment

    TAMPA, Fla. — A federal magistrate judge in Florida recommended the award of attorney fees to an online sports memorabilia store after a federal judge granted the store’s motion for summary judgment in its favor on claims brought against it by a photography company that accused it of copyright infringement by selling prints of photos of horse races.