Mealey's Copyright
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May 01, 2024
Website Owner Asks High Court About Scope Of Contributory Copyright Infringement
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner and operator of the Kiwi Farms website, who was found liable for contributory infringement over site users’ posting of copyrighted materials, tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari that the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling improperly expanded secondary liability by holding that receiving a takedown notice sufficiently establishes knowledge of infringement meriting action by a site operator.
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April 30, 2024
Ownership Challenge By Valve Referred To U.S. Copyright Office
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington on April 29 ordered a copyright infringement action stayed while the register of the U.S. Copyright Office addresses allegations that a plaintiff knowingly provided inaccurate information when declaring himself author of the allegedly infringed work.
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April 30, 2024
California UCL Claims At Core Of Briefing In ChatGPT AI Case
SAN FRANCISCO — Briefing recently wrapped in California federal court on a motion to dismiss claims in consolidated lawsuits in which authors allege that OpenAI Inc. and others violated the California unfair competition law (UCL) by training artificial intelligence on copyrighted material.
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April 30, 2024
Former Governor Defends AI Copyright Suit From Vagueness, Fair Use Challenges
NEW YORK — Allegations of a news and finance organization’s illicit use of copyrighted material in the training of artificial intelligence suffice to survive a motion to dismiss, and the company’s conclusory statements about fair and intended uses could open “Pandora’s box,” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and others argue in opposing a motion to dismiss filed in a federal court in New York. The defendants argue that general statements about training of AI and the lack of allegations of commercial usage of the product doom the complaint.
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April 29, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms No Coverage Ruling In Dispute Arising From Gold Treasure
SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 26 affirmed a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an ocean marine general liability insurer in a declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying $7.5 million covenant judgment that resolved claims that the appellant was denied possession and use of the tangible and intangible work product that was created during gold salvage expeditions.
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April 29, 2024
Motion To Dismiss Partly Granted In Dispute Over NFTs, Source Code
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Washington on April 26 said unjust enrichment claims leveled against two companies in connection with their procurement of source code and other proprietary information must be dismissed because the benefit they allegedly received was indirectly conferred.
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April 26, 2024
N.Y. Federal Magistrate Judge Recommends Fee Denial In Clash Between Music Schools
NEW YORK — A request by a music school and its founder for reimbursement of the attorney fees they incurred in successfully defending allegations of copyright infringement, unfair competition and trade secret misappropriation should not be granted, a federal magistrate judge in New York has recommended.
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April 24, 2024
Copyright, Trademark, Trade Dress Case Against TikTok Will Largely Proceed
SAN FRANCISCO — Although a motion to dismiss by TikTok Inc. was partly granted April 23, the copyright, trademark and trade dress claims by a China-based company can be repleaded in a fourth amended complaint (FAC), a federal judge in California ruled April 23.
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April 23, 2024
Judge Notes Importance Of Music Industry’s AI Suit, Won’t Provide Timeline
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge said two motions, one seeking a preliminary injunction and another seeking dismissal, in music publishers’ case alleging copyright infringement against Anthropic PBC over the training of its artificial intelligence remain “a priority” and that he was aware that the plaintiffs hoped for expedited disposition but said he would provide no timeline for a decision.
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April 18, 2024
Judge Won’t Rethink Dismissal Ruling In GitHub AI Copyright Suit
OAKLAND, Calif. — Five Doe defendants who claim that they did not receive proper attribution for use of their licensed materials on GitHub Inc.’s online collaboration platform failed in their quest for reconsideration of dismissal of their claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when a California federal judge ruled that they did not “show reasonable diligence in bringing the motion” and did not establish any of the prerequisites for justifying reconsideration.
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April 18, 2024
‘Top Gun’ Movie Sequel Did Not Infringe Copyrights; Experts On Similarities Barred
LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted Paramount Pictures’ motion for summary judgment after finding that the “Top Gun: Maverick” film did not infringe on any copyrights held by the author of a 1983 magazine article on the experiences of F-14 pilots and radio intercept officers training at the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School, known as Top Gun, and that certain expert witnesses are inadmissible.
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April 17, 2024
Florida Federal Judge Stands By Summary Judgment In Frazetta Copyright Case
TAMPA, Fla. — A bid by the publisher of a book chronicling the work of late artist Frank Frazetta to undo a recent summary judgment of direct copyright infringement failed April 16, when a federal judge in Florida denied a motion for reconsideration.
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April 16, 2024
California Plaintiffs Appeal Denial Of Intervention In New York OpenAI Suits
NEW YORK — California plaintiffs whose motion to intervene in New York artificial intelligence copyright infringement cases filed a notice of appeal after the federal judge overseeing the New York cases concluded that the similar but different defendants and claims required denying the request.
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April 16, 2024
Microsoft, OpenAI Defend Using News To Train AI In Copyright Suit
NEW YORK — A news organization never explains how any use of its material to train ChatGPT could have injured it, that copyright management information was removed in anything but a private setting or that the artificial intelligence reproduces protected works, Microsoft Corp. and various OpenAI Inc. entities told a federal court in New York in a pair of April 15 motions to dismiss.
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April 16, 2024
Panel: Ad Use Of Flag, Plea To Buy American Is Not Literally False
DENVER — A request for damages in connection with the use of a construction equipment company’s copyrighted photographs in alleged false advertisements that implored consumers to buy a competitor’s American-made products was rightly rejected by a federal judge in Oklahoma, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled.
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April 16, 2024
Music Industry Seeks Expedited Review Of AI Infringement Action
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music publishers asked a federal judge in Tennessee for the status of their request for a preliminary injunction enjoining Anthropic PBC’s training of its artificial intelligence, saying expedited review of the motion and details on when the court plans to hold oral arguments will allow for an efficient presentation.
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April 12, 2024
Activision Must Face ‘Warzone’ Trademark Counterclaim In California
LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on April 11 lifted a previously entered stay of discovery in litigation over “Call of Duty: Warzone” and the “WARZONE” trademark, which Activision Inc. stands accused of infringing by a counterclaimant, in denying the videogame maker’s motion for judgment on the pleadings.
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April 11, 2024
Architect To 5th Circuit: Promo Materials Without Notice Infringed Copyright
NEW ORLEANS — A license agreement with a developer specified that any publication of its copyrighted works must include its copyright management information (CMI), an architectural firm tells the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in its reply brief, insisting that this applied to promotional materials created by third parties at the developer’s behest.
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April 10, 2024
Popular Instagram User Wins Leave To Amend Copyright Claims Against Travel Company
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Icelandic woman with more than 1 million Instagram followers defeated a travel marketing company’s motion to dismiss copyright infringement claims on April 9, with a District of Columbia federal judge instead granting the plaintiff leave to file a third amended complaint.
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April 10, 2024
Court Erred On Timing, Logic In OpenAI Trademark Dispute, Party Says
SAN FRANCISCO — No evidence supports the conclusion that the OpenAI mark acquired secondary meaning by September 2022, and the court’s holding otherwise ignores that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied it that status as late as April 2023, a competitor for the mark says in a motion for reconsideration.
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April 09, 2024
Contract Claims Partly Preempted By Copyright, N.Y. Federal Judge Finds
NEW YORK — A plaintiff embroiled in litigation with talk radio host John Batchelor over podcast distribution rights lost its bid to return the dispute to New York state court on April 8, with a federal judge concluding that because portions of the case are preempted by federal copyright law, “policing the line between the preempted and non-preempted portions of these claims will be an ongoing task that will continue through trial,” thereby warranting the exercise of supplemental jurisdiction.
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April 05, 2024
Estate Settles Suit Over Artificial Intelligence George Carlin Comedy Video
LOS ANGELES — George Carlin’s representatives settled copyright and privacy claims against the entities responsible for creating an artificial intelligence presentation featuring his voice and likeness, with the defendants agreeing to stipulated consent judgment enjoining the creation of or otherwise using the comedian’s image, voice or likeness.
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April 04, 2024
Judge: California Plaintiffs Can’t Intervene In New York OpenAI Copyright Suits
NEW YORK — California plaintiffs lack sufficient interest in New York copyright infringement cases involving similar but different defendants and claims arising from the training of artificial intelligence, a federal judge in New York said in denying a motion to intervene.
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April 04, 2024
Appeals Court Weighs In On Software Copyright Case For 3rd Time
CINCINNATI — A summary judgment in favor of infringement defendants by a federal judge in Michigan was upheld April 3 by the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in its third ruling in a longstanding dispute over copyright protection for computer code.
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April 04, 2024
California Federal Judge Offers Glimpse At Hurdles In TikTok IP Row
SAN FRANCISCO — In advance of a planned April 5 hearing on a motion to dismiss copyright infringement and false advertising claims leveled against TikTok Inc. and others, a federal judge in California has directed the video sharing app to be prepared to defend its position that the registration requirement in federal copyright law extends to copyrights registered abroad.