Mealey's Copyright : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Copyright

November 09, 2023
Indiana Federal Judge Issues Injunction In Computer Code Theft Row

HAMMOND, Ind. — Allegations by Illinois Central Railroad Co. (IC) that a former employee stole its computer code and then attempted to copyright the code will proceed with a preliminary injunction in place, a federal judge in Indiana has ruled.
November 09, 2023
Illinois Federal Judge Denies Bid To Execute Infringement Judgment

CHICAGO — The owner of various copyrights and trademarks associated with the horror film “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” which in December 2022 won a $200,000 default judgment in an infringement action, saw its motion to compel execution of that judgment denied Nov. 8 by a federal judge in Illinois, to whom the case was recently reassigned.
November 07, 2023
9th Circuit Endorses Fees As Sanction For Counsel In Copyright Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An attorney who pursued copyright infringement litigation on behalf of a copyright owner must pay more than $100,000 in attorney fees in connection with the case, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Nov. 6, affirming a California federal judge’s finding that the disputed works are “‘not remotely similar.’”
November 07, 2023
AI Company Urges Fair Use Protections, Says Copyright Law Doesn’t Need Overhaul

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Artificial intelligence company Anthropic PBC told the Copyright Office that the technology could add trillions of dollars in value to the economy but warned that a fragmented governance system would be costly and unreliable and the worst way to implement regulations.
November 03, 2023
Choreographer Wins Appeal Over Dismissed Copyright Claims Against Epic Games

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has reinstated allegations of direct and contributory copyright infringement against the makers of Fortnite, concluding that — with regard to choreography — the selection and arrangement of otherwise unprotectable dance movements can rise to the level of protectable expression, just as they do in the context of musical works.
November 02, 2023
Judge Allows Some Copyright Claims Against AI Apps

SAN FRANCISCO — Where a cartoonist alleges that her protected works were scraped from the internet and used to train artificial intelligence, her copyright claims survive motions to dismiss, but the balance of the California unfair competition law (UCL) and other claims fail, a federal judge in the state said Oct. 30 in granting leave to amend a class action.
November 01, 2023
Panel Orders Transfer Of False Advertising, Copyright Claims Against TikTok

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 31 granted a petition for writ of mandamus by TikTok Inc. and others, agreeing that allegations that the popular video sharing app engages in false advertising and copyright infringement should proceed in California federal court.
October 30, 2023
Former Governor Launches Copyright Suit Against AIs, Training Database

NEW YORK — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and other copyright holders filed a class action against the host of the data set used to train large language models and companies whose artificial intelligences were trained on the information.
October 27, 2023
9th Circuit Upholds Win For Designer Accused Of Copyright Infringement

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California did not err in awarding fashion designer Alexander Wang dismissal of allegations of copyright infringement, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 26, indicating in a footnote that even if it is assumed that the “Jangle Vision Twins” are entitled to broad protection they are not substantially similar to Wang’s accused work.
October 26, 2023
Music Publishers Seek Copyright Shelter From AI’s Industry Changes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Leading music publishers sued Anthropic PBC, claiming that the company unlawfully trained its artificial intelligence on copyrighted lyrics from songs such as “A Change Is Gonna Come” and “Gimme Shelter” and saying that while the technology is new, copyright law remains the same old song governing how AI may use such materials.
October 19, 2023
Google: UCL Plaintiffs Can’t Show Violations, Injury In Bard AI Chatbot Case

SAN FRANCISCO — Class action plaintiffs who complain that Google LLC trained artificial intelligence chatbot Bard on personal and copyrighted information trade “prolixity for precision,” fail to allege a privacy or property interest in material publicly posted on the internet and lack sufficient allegations that they read a privacy policy or can demonstrate an underlying statutory violation, the company says in a motion to dismiss unfair competition law (UCL), copyright and other claims filed in a California federal court.
October 17, 2023
2nd Circuit: No Infringement By YouTube In User’s Posts Of Copyrighted Videos

NEW YORK — In an Oct. 17 summary order, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found that a documentary maker did not establish any volitional conduct by YouTube LLC in the posting of purportedly infringing content by a channel owner, affirming a trial court’s dismissal of contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims against the video-sharing platform operator.
October 17, 2023
Pro Se Contributory Copyright Claim Against Kiwi Farms Reinstated

DENVER — A 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 16 said an author and songwriter’s allegations that the Kiwi Farms website contributed to infringement of his copyrighted works are adequate enough to withstand a motion to dismiss.
October 17, 2023
Amici To 5th Circuit: ISP Not Contributorily Liable For Customers’ File Sharing

NEW ORLEANS — Two trade organizations for internet service providers (ISPs) filed an amicus curiae brief in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting an ISP that was hit with a $46.8 million contributory infringement judgment, in which they argue that the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Twitter Inc. v. Taamneh, 598 U.S. 471 (2023), establishes that “a ‘communication provider’ [cannot] be held liable ‘merely for knowing that wrongdoers were using its services and failing to stop them.’”
October 16, 2023
Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In 2nd Challenge To Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 13 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari in a second case challenging the doctrine of Chevron deference and ordered that it be briefed on a schedule allowing argument “in tandem” with a pending case pertaining to the same issue, both of which involve challenges to regulations that require fishing vessels to pay federal monitors.
October 13, 2023
Man Appeals Ruling That Copyright Can’t Protect AI Art

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A man found to have “put the cart before the horse” has appealed a holding by a District of Columbia federal judge that copyright law at its core historically requires a human creator and cannot protect art created by artificial intelligence (AI).
October 13, 2023
ChatGPT Makers Claim Writers’ Copyright Claims Inapplicable To AI Tech

SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI Inc. and affiliated companies that developed the ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) program filed a reply in California federal court in support of their motion to dismiss two putative class actions for copyright infringement and other claims brought by copyright holders, urging the court to reject the plaintiffs’ “erroneous” theory “that every single output of ChatGPT is a prima facie copyright infringement.”
October 12, 2023
California Federal Judge Grants QVC Motion To Dismiss Copyright Claims

LOS ANGELES — A textile designer’s copyright infringement allegations against the home shopping network QVC Inc. have been dismissed by a federal judge in California, who said a first amended complaint in the case fails to state a claim.
October 12, 2023
N.Y. Federal Magistrate Judge: Copyright Owner Conceded Futility Of Case

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A federal magistrate judge in New York said the voluntary dismissal with prejudice of allegations of copyright infringement by a copyright owner established knowledge that the claims were futile.
October 10, 2023
R&B Singer Wins Dismissal Of Copyright Claims In New York

NEW YORK — Allegations by a music label and manager of musical artists that an R&B singer breached his contract will proceed, but the musician is entitled to dismissal of claims of copyright infringement leveled in connection with artwork used at live performances, a federal judge in New York ruled.
October 09, 2023
5th Circuit Grants Panel Rehearing, Remands To Stay Indemnification Issue

NEW ORLEANS — Granting insureds and underlying claimants’ joint petition for panel rehearing, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 6 held that determination of a commercial property insurer’s duty to indemnify under one policy should be deferred pending final resolution of an underlying Texas action alleging that the strip club insureds used 16 professional models’ likeness for advertising campaigns without their consent.
October 06, 2023
IP Exclusion Bars Coverage For Misappropriation Of Likeness Claim, Panel Affirms

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals panel on Oct. 5 affirmed a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of a commercial general liability insurer in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for a lawsuit brought against its insured, finding that the policy’s intellectual property exclusion bars coverage for the underlying misappropriation of likeness claim.
October 04, 2023
Portions Of Expert Report In Ohio Copyright Case Will Be Stricken

CLEVELAND — Although rejecting a copyright owner’s assertion that a defense expert’s rebuttal was untimely, a federal magistrate judge in Ohio on Oct. 3 agreed that the rebuttal makes improper legal arguments about the two-step substantial similarity test employed in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
October 02, 2023
Supreme Court Rebuffs Question On Direct Copyright Liability For Online Streaming

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 2 denied certiorari to a group of music publishers that sought clarification over whether direct infringement liability for making copyrighted materials available for online download and streaming fell to the individual that ordered the infringing acts or to the parties who “pressed the button,” in response to the directive, to make the works available to the public.
September 29, 2023
Copyright Holders Opposing Dismissal Say AI Companies Want To ‘Rewrite’ Law

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of copyright holders including comedian Sarah Silverman filed a brief opposing OpenAI Inc. and affiliated companies’ motion to dismiss their putative class action for copyright infringement, urging the court to reject OpenAI’s “misleading and self-serving reframing of the U.S. Copyright Act” and contending that its use of their works to train its ChatGPT AI program infringed on their copyrights.