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Mealey's Copyright

January 24, 2024
Authors In OpenAI Copyright Fight Praise Joint Stipulation, Oppose Stay

NEW YORK — Parties’ carefully crafted stipulation creates “tremendous efficiencies” while removing the threat of dismissal motions and attempts to transfer a pair of class action copyright lawsuits against OpenAI Inc., and the court should reject an outside party’s request that it be stayed and a steering committee be formed, authors tell a federal judge in New York in a Jan. 23 letter.
January 23, 2024
Music Publishers Say Proposed Amicus Brief In AI Case Is Off Key

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music publishers on Jan. 22 said a proposed Jan. 19 amicus curiae brief by groups comprising artificial intelligence investors is unnecessary at this stage of their copyright infringement lawsuit and is unlikely to add much to the dispute other than costs and time.
January 23, 2024
Authors, OpenAI Entities Stipulate To Case Guidelines In Copyright Lawsuit

NEW YORK — Parties to class action copyright lawsuits against OpenAI Inc. and related entities brought by fiction writers and nonfiction authors have agreed to consolidate the two cases and that the defendants will not seek transfer or dismissal of existing claims, among other framework for the cases to proceed, a federal judge in New York said in a Jan. 22 order adopting the stipulation. Meanwhile, two journalists who recently filed a similar suit asked the court on Jan. 23 to hold the stipulation in abeyance until the court decides whether to include their suit in the consolidated actions.
January 22, 2024
Meritless Publicity Claims In AI Copyright Suit Warrant Fee Award, Company Says

SAN FRANCISCO — Because the plaintiffs dropped right-to-publicity claims from their amended complaint challenging artificial intelligence’s use of their works, it is clear that those claims were meritless, and the court should grant a motion to strike and award fees under the state’s anti-SLAPP statute, Stability AI Ltd. tells a federal judge in California in a reply brief.
January 22, 2024
High Court Grants Bid By Solicitor General To Argue U.S. Views In Copyright Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ten days after U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar moved to participate as amicus curiae in the upcoming oral argument in a case that poses the question of whether damages can be recovered for infringement occurring before the three-year statute of limitations under the Copyright Act’s discovery accrual rule, the request was granted Jan. 22 by the U.S. Supreme Court.
January 18, 2024
Anthropic Defends Use Of Copyrighted Lyrics, Says Injunction Unnecessary

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Music publishers filed suit in the wrong jurisdiction, but besides that, no evidence suggests that Anthropic PBC’s Claude artificial intelligence will produce copyrighted lyrics going forward absent “special attacks” designed to get it to do so, that the use of those works for training is anything other than fair use or that any use of the copyrighted works caused an injury, the company argues in opposing a preliminary injunction.
January 17, 2024
High Court Told ‘Chaos’ Will Ensue ‘In A World Without Chevron’ Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court was told Jan. 17 that “chaos” will ensue “in a world without Chevron” deference by government attorneys, who urged it to apply stare decisis and uphold Chevron, which is being challenged in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations.
January 17, 2024
On Remand, Judge Awards Fees To Copyright, Trademark Defendants

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A federal judge in Michigan on Jan. 16 rejected the “quixotic” positions advanced by a copyright and trademark owner and his company in opposing a request for attorney fees by prevailing infringement defendants, declining what he said was a call to “unwind the entire litigation and revisit almost every substantive ruling that has been rendered to date.”
January 17, 2024
Government Wants To Argue In Supreme Court Copyright Discovery Accrual Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar filed a motion on behalf of the U.S. government in the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to participate in upcoming Feb. 21 oral arguments in a dispute over whether copyright damages can be recovered for infringement that occurred prior to the three-year statute of limitations under the Copyright Act’s discovery accrual rule.
January 16, 2024
7th Circuit Upholds Fee Award, Judgment In Favor Of Copyright Defendants

CHICAGO — A determination by a federal judge in Illinois that documents relating to bond offerings do not qualify for copyright protection was affirmed Jan. 12 by the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, finding in the same ruling no abuse of discretion in a subsequent award of more than $1.5 million in attorney fees to two prevailing infringement defendants.
January 12, 2024
Appellant: Dismissal Of Patent, Copyright, Lanham Act Claims Was Error

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A patent owner is seeking reinstatement of its lawsuit against a former employee and his new company, asserting in an appellant brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a Utah federal judge wrongly construed “positioned between” and “formed between” in relation to a claimed air gap in the steel core of a buckling-restrained brace (BRB).
January 10, 2024
Clothing Retailer Rejects Claims Its AI Systematically Steals

LOS ANGELES — Claims involving a clothing retailer’s use of artificial intelligence implicate ordinary business practices and cannot form the basis of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and copyright claims, Shein Distribution Corp. says in a reply brief rebutting designers’ claims that the company systematically duplicates and steals protected and commercially valuable designs.
January 10, 2024
Copyright Claims Tossed With Leave To Amend In California Software Row

SAN FRANCISCO — Counterclaims of direct and contributory copyright infringement leveled by a software developer against a former licensee were dismissed as “too conclusory” on Jan. 9 by a federal judge in California.
January 09, 2024
Microsoft, OpenAI Face Journalists’ Suit Over AI Training

NEW YORK — Microsoft Corp. and various OpenAI are no better than any run-of-the-mill thief after they “systematically pilfered” copyrighted works despite enjoying both the means and ability to pay, two journalists allege in a class action filed in federal court in New York.
January 08, 2024
Hip Hop Artist Awarded Summary Judgment On Copyright Infringement Claim

CHICAGO — A hip-hop artist who performs as “French Montana” has prevailed in Illinois federal court in a copyright infringement action over music created by a plaintiff when he was 16 years old.
January 08, 2024
Pet Brush Maker May Subpoena Meta To Obtain Online Counterfeiters’ Identities

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of website operators accused of selling and advertising counterfeit goods lost their bid to quash a discovery subpoena on Meta Platforms Inc., with a California federal judge finding that the plaintiff demonstrated that good cause exists to obtain the defendants’ identifying information for the purpose of serving them with its complaint for intellectual property infringement and unfair competition.
January 05, 2024
Amicus Asks 2nd Circuit To Clarify Fair Use Standard In Digital Library Suit

NEW YORK — Filing a brief in support of neither party in an appeal by Internet Archive (IA) of a New York federal court’s finding that the “controlled digital lending” practiced in its digital library did not constitute fair use under the Copyright Act, amicus curiae HathiTrust asks the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to specify that fair use, “as an ‘equitable rule of reason,’” should be decided on a case-by-case basis “to avoid rigid application of the copyright statute when . . . it would stifle the very creativity” protected by the statute.
January 04, 2024
Preliminary Injunction Entered In Alien Costume Copyright Litigation

PITTSBURGH — A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled that a United Kingdom-based costume company will likely suffer irreparable harm if multiple China-based defendants are not enjoined from selling a knockoff product.
January 02, 2024
Latest AI Copyright Suit Sees New York Times Target Microsoft, OpenAI

NEW YORK — The New York Times Co. (NYT) sued ChatGPT owners Microsoft Corp. and various OpenAI entities for copyright infringement, saying there is nothing transformative about using valuable and protected materials to create a substitute product.
December 22, 2023
Former Governor, Others Sever, Transfer, Dismiss Portions Of AI Copyright Suit

NEW YORK — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and other copyright holders who filed suit over the use of their works to train artificial intelligence told a federal judge in New York that they reached an agreement to dismiss one defendant and sever and transfer their claims against Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. to a federal court in California and said they would not oppose a fourth defendant’s motion to stay discovery while the court resolves pending motions.
December 21, 2023
In Copyright, Trademark Row, Judge Allows Fourth Amended Complaint

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California on Dec. 20 ruled that a third amended complaint (TAC) seeking cancellation of two trademarks adequately pleads that the underlying applications contained false and misleading information but failed to provide “sufficient factual context” that the applicants knew or had reason to believe that their registrations were procured by fraud.
December 19, 2023
Panel Won’t Rehear Dispute Over Copyright Deposit Copy Requirement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An August holding by the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the mandatory deposit requirement set forth in the Copyright Act is unconstitutional will stand, for now.
December 19, 2023
11th Circuit Upholds Denial Of Default Judgment In Copyright Litigation

ATLANTA — A panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said a federal judge in Georgia did not err in refusing to grant a copyright infringement plaintiff a default judgment against a musician who never entered an appearance in either court.
December 18, 2023
California Jury Delivers Photographer $6.3M Award In Copyright Case

LOS ANGELES — In a verdict lodged with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, a jury said a photographer is entitled to the maximum statutory damages award of $150,000 for each of 42 willfully infringed copyrighted images.
December 15, 2023
RIAA To High Court: Use Equitable Tolling For ‘Black Box,’ AI-Based Infringement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In one of eight amicus curiae briefs filed in a dispute over the discovery accrual rule in the context of copyright infringement, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) urges the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify that equitable tolling applies to the Copyright Act’s three-year limitations period when the infringement “is undetectable as a practical matter.”