Mealey's Artificial Intelligence : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Artificial Intelligence

February 26, 2024
Investor Says Data Company Misrepresented Abilities Of AI Program

NEWARK, N.J. — In a putative class complaint filed in a federal court in New Jersey, an investor says a data engineering company and certain of its executives misled him and other investors through claims about the supposedly innovative nature of its artificial intelligence model, after an industry analyst published a report claiming that the model was never viable.
February 21, 2024
Anthropic Opposes ‘Untimely’ Music Industry Amicus Brief In AI Copyright Fight

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music industry groups looking to file an amicus curiae brief argue that a case seeking to enjoin an artificial intelligence company doesn’t threaten the AI industry but that continued copyright violations do harm the industry. But in a Feb. 20 opposition brief, AI company Anthropic PBC calls the brief untimely and says it simply rehashes arguments already raised by the plaintiffs.
February 21, 2024
RICO Claim Dismissed From Clothing Retailer’s AI Design Copyright Theft Case

LOS ANGELES — Allegations that an online clothing retailer’s artificial intelligence rips off copyrighted fashion designs can form the basis of a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claim, but the designers must dress the claim with additional allegations, a federal judge in California said in dismissing the claim without prejudice.
February 21, 2024
Judge Grants Stipulated Dismissal In AI-Tax Prep, UCL, Advertising Suit

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge on Feb. 20 approved a stipulated dismissal in a case involving two companies locked in a battle over whether the advertising of artificial intelligence tax preparation software violated the California unfair competition law.
February 20, 2024
Google Says UCL, Other Claims In AI Training Lawsuit Fail

SAN FRANCISCO — Vague allegations and hypothetical damages involving the scraping of websites and other sources for data used in the training of artificial intelligence cannot form the basis of California unfair competition law (UCL) and other claims because the potential usage was adequately disclosed and individuals lack a privacy interest in information they themselves publicly disclosed, Google LLC tells a federal judge in California in seeking dismissal.
February 20, 2024
Home Depot Customer Sues Over Use Of Google AI To Access, Record Phone Calls

LOS ANGELES — In a putative class action filed in California federal court, a Los Angeles man alleges that The Home Depot Inc. violated California’s Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) by using an artificial intelligence product from Google Inc. to listen to, analyze and record customers’ phone calls without their knowledge or consent.
February 15, 2024
Missouri Court Grants Sanctions Over Fictitious AI Cites, Other Briefing Errors

ST. LOUIS — A man pursuing a pro se appeal admits that the individual he hired to assist with the case relied on artificial intelligence that produced more than 20 inaccurate cites and appears to have gotten information correct only through “algorithmic serendipity,” a Missouri appeals court said in dismissing the appeal and imposing $10,000 in sanctions for “fatal briefing deficiencies.”
February 15, 2024
Disputes Over Liquidation Proposal Sent To Mediation In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Cases

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal bankruptcy judge has referred matters pertaining to a proposed Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for Vesttoo Ltd. and dozens of its affiliates to mediation.
February 14, 2024
Government: AI-Assisted Invention Patents Require ‘Significant Human’ Role

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Patent applicants must be “natural persons” — artificial intelligences cannot be listed as inventors — and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) analysis of applications including artificial intelligence-assisted inventions focuses on whether a significant human contribution exists, according to guidance published in the Federal Register on Feb. 13.
February 14, 2024
Judge Dismisses Bulk Of Writers’ Copyright-Based Claims Against OpenAI

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion by OpenAI Inc. and its affiliated companies involved in developing the ChatGPT artificial intelligence (AI) program to dismiss claims brought against it in two putative class actions filed by authors who say ChatGPT’s development and operations infringe their copyrights.
February 14, 2024
GitHub, Microsoft, Coders To Confer Over Discovery In AI Copyright Licensing Row

OAKLAND, Calif. — In a dispute over licensing and attribution of computer code in open-source artificial intelligence (AI) collaborations, a California federal judge scolded defendants GitHub Inc. and Microsoft Corp. and five John Doe plaintiffs for not complying with the proper procedures for submitting discovery letters, leading him to deny the relief sought by the parties and to once again order them to meet and confer over their remaining discovery disputes.
February 13, 2024
California Artists Want OpenAI Enjoined From Litigating New York Actions

SAN FRANCISCO — Artists urge a federal court in California to enjoin OpenAI Inc. and related companies from litigating similar actions in a New York federal court, saying the defendants are proceeding there in an effort to find a more friendly jurisdiction.
February 12, 2024
Minor Claims Classmate Used AI To Create Nonconsensual Pornography

TRENTON, N.J. — A 15-year-old girl claims that a classmate of hers violated state and federal law by turning otherwise innocuous pictures of her into pornography using an artificial intelligence application or website, the girl and her parents allege in lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court.
February 12, 2024
FCC Bans Artificial Intelligence Robocalls

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Communications Commission announced a ban on artificial intelligence-generated robocalls under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
February 12, 2024
Judge Says AI Publicity Claims Fall Within Exception To Anti-SLAPP Statute

SAN FRANCISCO — Artists’ since-abandoned allegations that the companies behind three artificial intelligence art generators improperly used their names in advertising the products fell within the public interest exception to the state’s anti-SLAPP law, a federal judge in California said in denying a special motion to strike.
February 08, 2024
Judge Grants Consolidation In Journalists’ AI Suit Against Microsoft, OpenAI

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York granted a motion to consolidate two journalists’ copyright infringement suit against OpenAI Inc. and related entities with previously consolidated cases involving fiction and nonfiction authors.
February 07, 2024
Cigna: ERISA Plans Bar Algorithm Health Care Claims; UCL Claims Lack Specificity

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Insureds’ cannot demonstrate denial of claims based solely on review by an algorithm or that the use of such a tool would violate the provisions of their Employee Retirement Income Security Act plans, the insurer tells a federal judge in California in a motion to dismiss while arguing that the plaintiffs fail to plead their California unfair competition law (UCL) claims with requisite specificity.
February 06, 2024
Parties Debate Injunction Record, Await Ruling In OpenAI Trademark Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO — OpenAI Inc. submitted what it portrays as an administrative motion to supplement the record but really is a local-rule-breaking attempt at filing a surreply in support of its motion for a preliminary injunction and fails to show the type of confusion the relief it seeks would warrant, defendants in a suit over a trademark and domain name argue in an opposition brief filed in California federal court.
January 12, 2024
COMMENTARY: Significant Regulatory Developments In 2023 In Artificial Intelligence

By Camila Tobón
February 05, 2024
Judge Partially Dismisses African American’s AI Hiring Discrimination Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A man alleging that a company’s artificial intelligence discriminates in hiring practices sufficiently shows that an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charge intermingles disparate impact and intentional discrimination issues in a way that constitutes administrative exhaustion for the purposes of the latter claim, but there are insufficient allegations that the defendant acted as an employment agency for the places at which he applied or enjoys control over the employment processes, a federal judge said in partially granting a motion to dismiss.
February 01, 2024
Late Objection Bid Draws Opposition In Vesttoo Chapter 11 Cases

WILMINGTON, Del. — Asserting that “Vesttoo’s defrauded creditors have overwhelmingly voted to accept” a Chapter 11 plan of liquidation for Vesttoo Ltd. and dozens of its affiliates, two creditors are among the entities urging a Delaware federal bankruptcy court to reject a motion to allow an untimely objection to claims against one of the affiliates.
January 31, 2024
Fabricated ChatGPT Cite Leads To 2nd Circuit Grievance Board Referral

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 30 referred an attorney to its grievance board for “conduct that falls below the basic obligations of counsel” after she submitted a citation fabricated by artificial intelligence ChatGPT, saying federal rules require that at the very least, attorneys verify the case law they submit in support of their argument.
January 30, 2024
Counsel In Probate Action Faces Sanctions For Possible AI Misuse

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Probate counsel’s possible reliance on generative artificial intelligence isn’t problematic, but the fact that the lawyer didn’t take the simple steps required to confirm the accuracy of the material cited in a reply brief is, a judge in New York said in striking a pleading and setting a hearing for possible sanctions.
January 29, 2024
No Laughing Matter: Dudesy AI Sued Over George Carlin Comedy Video

LOS ANGELES — Individuals using an artificial intelligence created and publicly posted a “click-bait” video of deceased comedian George Carlin without authorization for the use of his likeness or any license to use copyrighted material, the comedian’s representatives allege in a lawsuit filed in California federal court.
January 26, 2024
FTC Wants Look At Amazon, OpenAI, Others’ AI Investments, Partnerships

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Trade Commission on Jan. 25 announced that it is seeking information from a handful of companies related to their artificial intelligence investments and partnerships, according to an announcement.