Mealey's Copyright
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October 24, 2024
OpenAI Wants Evidence Of New York Times’ AI Damages, AI’s Positive Impact
NEW YORK — The New York Times Co. must produce evidence of any damages from artificial intelligence, as well as its usage of ChatGPT and other third-party AIs, OpenAI entities tell a federal judge in New York in a letter motion seeking to compel production.
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October 24, 2024
Judge: Defamation, Other Counterclaims Survive In Copyright Infringement Dispute
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge in Tennessee on Oct. 23 denied a plaintiff media company’s motion to dismiss a defendant company’s state law counterclaims of defamation and other counts against the plaintiff company and its executive in a copyright dispute, holding that the plaintiff company failed to show that the state law counterclaims are preempted by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
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October 22, 2024
Code Publisher Appeals Injunction Denial For Copyright Claim To 3rd Circuit
PHILADELPHIA — A publisher of technical standards for several industries on Oct. 21 appealed to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals a Pennsylvania federal judge’s denial of the publisher’s request for a preliminary injunction against a company it claims posted copies of the plaintiff company’s codes online without permission in violation of copyrights.
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October 22, 2024
Judge Dismisses News Outlet’s Counterclaims From Copyright Row With Photographer
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida dismissed multiple counterclaims brought by an online news outlet against a plaintiff photojournalist who accused the company of using some of his photos without permission, holding that some of the counterclaims hold no useful purpose.
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October 21, 2024
2nd Circuit Won’t Rethink Finding Of No Exception To Copyright Act Discovery Rule
NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a design company’s bid for en banc rehearing, leaving in place a panel’s August decision vacating a New York federal judge’s finding that a photography studio’s copyright claims against the company were time-barred, rejecting the company’s arguments that the panel’s finding did not square with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
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October 18, 2024
Magistrate: Video Game Creator Due More Than $35K In Awards In Copyright Case
NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York recommended that the creator of popular horror video game franchise be awarded more than $35,000 in statutory damages, attorney fees and costs from a defendant Chinese company that the creator said infringed his copyrights by selling unauthorized clothing items featuring characters he designed, due to the company’s failure to appear and defend itself from the complaint.
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October 18, 2024
Google Defendants Want Pair Of AI Copyright Suits Consolidated
SAN FRANCISCO — Two cases challenging the data used to train artificial intelligence share sufficiently similar parties, facts and overlapping classes and should be consolidated, Google LLC and its parent Alphabet Inc. told a federal judge in California.
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October 17, 2024
1st Circuit Won’t Reconsider Order Of New Trial In Copyright Case
BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 16 rejected a guitar seller’s petition for rehearing or rehearing en banc, leaving in place a First Circuit panel’s July opinion ordering a new trial in a New Hampshire federal court on claims that the company infringed on a guitar manufacturer’s photo of guitar headstocks by uploading the photo to its own website.
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October 16, 2024
10th Circuit: Judge Wrongly Tested If Amazon Is ‘Found’ In Utah In Copyright Case
DENVER — A federal judge in Utah applied the wrong test in a copyright case to determine whether Amazon’s website “may be found” within the state of Utah when determining whether to enter default judgment against two Chinese companies accused of selling counterfeited baby doll products through Amazon, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Oct. 15.
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October 14, 2024
Magistrate: Dental Product Maker Can’t Add Copyright Claim To Trademark Suit
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A plaintiff dental hygiene company cannot amend its trademark infringement complaint to add an allegation that defendant companies that make similar products also infringed on the plaintiff company’s copyright, along with other allegations, a federal magistrate judge in North Carolina held Oct. 11, saying that granting the motion would be prejudicial to the defendant companies.
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October 11, 2024
7th Circuit: New Issues On Appeal Doom Claims For Intellectual Property Royalties
CHICAGO — The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed an Indiana federal judge’s dismissal of a breach of contract suit brought by a plaintiff manufacturer who claimed that a defendant manufacturer allegedly failed to pay royalties for a lung-expansion therapy device required by a licensing agreement; the panel noted that the plaintiff company predicated its arguments on appeal on a new theory not raised before the district court.
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October 10, 2024
‘AI’ Isn’t License To Copy Creative Human Works, Thomson Reuters Says
WILMINGTON, Del. — After prevailing on California unfair competition law (UCL) antitrust counterclaims in a federal court in Delaware, a news company argues in a pair of briefs in support of summary judgment that the evidence is clear that a company knowingly copied large quantities of unique and creative copyrighted data to train its artificial intelligence and cannot claim the conduct falls under fair use or innocent infringer protections.
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October 10, 2024
5th Circuit Affirms ISP’s Copyright Infringement But Reverses Damages Award
NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 9 affirmed 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 the panel reversed a finding that the ISP was separately liable for the infringement of each of 1,403 songs.
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October 10, 2024
Judge Sets Date For Settlement Stipulation For Photo Infringement Suit
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge set a date for parties in a copyright infringement dispute between a plaintiff photography licensing company and a defendant spa to file a stipulation of settlement after the parties filed a notice of settlement in the wake of an order denying the spa’s motion to dismiss the complaint.
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October 09, 2024
AI Entities Want Consolidation, Tout Dramatic Overlap, ‘Complex Discovery’
NEW YORK — Saying that pleadings will “overlap dramatically” with two previously consolidated media artificial intelligence copyright actions and that a unified process promises an efficient path forward, OpenAI entities and Microsoft Corp. urged a federal judge in New York to add a third case to the grouping.
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October 04, 2024
Judge Denies Code Publisher’s Injunction Bid, Citing Likely Fair Use
PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by a publisher of technical standards for a number of industries, holding that the publisher is unlikely to prevail on claims of both copyright and trademark infringement it brought against a company it said posted copies of its codes to its website without permission; the judge agreed with the defendant company and certain of its executives that a fair use defense likely applies.
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October 03, 2024
Photographer’s Copyright Suit Over Wu-Tang Photo Largely Survives Dismissal Bid
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York mostly denied an arts and entertainment outlet’s request to dismiss a copyright infringement complaint brought against it by a photographer who claims that the company shared a photo he took of two rappers without his permission, only ruling against the photographer for failing to show that the outlet shared the photo with false copyright management information (CMI).
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October 02, 2024
Judge: No Jurisdiction For Artist’s Class Copyright Claims Against Online Store
NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Oct. 1 issued an opinion confirming an August “bottom-line” order dismissing a putative class action complaint brought by an artist alleging that an e-commerce company infringed on his copyrighted work and that of many other artists, holding that the New York federal court does not have personal jurisdiction based in part on customers’ locations.
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October 02, 2024
Photo Licensing Firm’s Copyright Infringement Suit Not Time-Barred, Judge Holds
NEW YORK — A spa accused by a photography licensing company of infringing on copyrights by posting multiple photos to the spa’s social media pages without permission was incorrect to argue that the licensing company’s suit was time-barred, a federal judge in New York held, denying the spa’s motion to dismiss the complaint.
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October 02, 2024
Judge Won’t Clarify AI Copyright Trade Dress Ruling
SAN FRANCISCO — While it portrays its motion as one for clarification, artificial intelligence company Midjourney actually seeks reconsideration of a ruling finding that a plaintiff adequately alleged trade dress claims, a federal judge in California said in denying the motion.
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October 01, 2024
Only Copyright Claim Survives In Atari’s Arcade Cabinet Row With State Farm
DALLAS — A federal judge in Texas said a copyright infringement claim brought by Atari Interactive Inc. against the State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and advertising companies that worked with it for allegedly using an Atari arcade cabinet in a commercial without Atari’s permission can survive a motion to dismiss; however, the judge held that all other claims brought by the video game company fail.
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October 01, 2024
Order Lays Out Security Details For ChatGPT Discovery
SAN FRANCISCO — Discovery in plaintiffs’ consolidated copyright litigation over the data used by OpenAI Inc. to train its large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT, will occur in a secure room at a computer isolated from the internet and other networks, a federal magistrate judge in California said in adopting stipulated protocol.
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October 01, 2024
DMCA AI Ruling Heads To 9th Circuit After Grant Of Immediate Appeal
OAKLAND, Calif. — Plaintiffs with copyright claims against GitHub Inc. and others stemming from the training of artificial intelligences may file an interlocutory appeal of a ruling requiring identicality under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and dismissing the claims, a federal judge in California said.
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October 01, 2024
Man Calls AI-Assisted Art A Human Creation, Faults Copyright Office Denial
DENVER — Comparing his artificial intelligence-assisted work to that of Jackson Pollock, a man alleges in a federal court in Colorado that the Copyright Office acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it denied his application for a copyright of a work he says he spent in excess of 100 hours tweaking and improving.
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September 30, 2024
California Governor Signs 17 AI-Related Laws, Creates Task Force
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who recently signed 17 bills governing artificial intelligence, took yet another step toward regulation on Sept. 29, announcing the creation of new initiatives designed to ensure safe and responsible use of the technology.