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

Mealey's Artificial Intelligence

April 21, 2023
Generative AI Firms Move To Dismiss Artists’ Unfair Competition, Copyright Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — Three companies involved in the field of content-generation artificial intelligence (AI) filed motions to dismiss putative class copyright infringement and unfair competition claims, telling a California federal court that the plaintiff artists fail to allege that any images created by their respective programs are derivative of their copyrighted works that were purportedly used to “train” their technology.
April 17, 2023
Professors Urge High Court To Recognize Inventorship Of Artificial Intelligence

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Filing an amicus curiae brief in support of a petitioner who sought registration of two patents he attributed to his artificial intelligence (AI) system, a group of four professors ask the U.S. Supreme Court to grant the petition for certiorari and “recognize that AI systems have been producing inventions constituting patentable subject matter for decades,” asserting that the practice of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to deny patent registration to AI systems is “unwarranted” under the Patent Act.
April 14, 2023
McDonald’s Granted Protective Order In AI Voiceprint Class Lawsuit

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 13 granted a motion for a protective order sought by McDonald’s Corp. in a putative class complaint alleging that the franchisor violates Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) by collecting voiceprints to place drive-through orders.
April 06, 2023
Panel Says Claims Court Correctly Dismissed Copyright Claim On Remand

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 5 left intact dismissal by the Court of Federal Claims of allegations by a pro se plaintiff that the federal government is liable for copyright infringement in connection with his scientific research on artificial intelligence (AI).
March 22, 2023
High Court Asked To Decide If Artificial Intelligence Can Be A Patent Inventor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals did not properly consider the definitions of “inventor” and “individual” when it held that artificial intelligence (AI) could not be listed as an inventor on a patent application, a petitioner tells the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking a grant of certiorari for a question of whether the Patent Act requires that inventorship be limited to just human beings.
March 17, 2023
GitHub Users Defend DMCA, UCL Claims In Row Over Artificial Intelligence Tool

OAKLAND, Calif.— A pair of Doe plaintiffs oppose motions to dismiss their putative class claims against Microsoft Corp., GitHub Inc. and OpenAI Inc., including violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), telling a California federal court that they sufficiently alleged that the defendants used open-source data, without the proper attribution, to create two for-profit artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
March 15, 2023
AI Chatbot Illegally Offers Legal Services Without Law License, Man Alleges

SAN FRANCISCO — A litigant recently filed a putative class action in California state court claiming that a tech company violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by deceptively marketing itself as an AI-powered, self-described “robot lawyer” when it “is not actually a robot, a lawyer, nor a law firm” and by providing him with substandard legal services.
January 26, 2023
Alexa Eavesdropping Plaintiffs Accuse Amazon Of Flouting Court’s Discovery Order

SEATTLE — In a reply supporting a motion to compel, the plaintiffs in a putative class action over purported eavesdropping by Amazon.com Inc.’s Alexa digital assistant ask a Washington federal court to compel the online retailer to comply with a previous discovery order via the court-ordered custodial search terms rather than by using “technology-assisted review” (TAR).
August 09, 2022
Federal Circuit Agrees That Artificial Intelligence Cannot Be Inventor

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) correctly denied two patent applications on the basis that the applicant failed to list a human inventor, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 5, in a blow to the artificial intelligence industry.
July 27, 2022
Judge Won’t Reconsider Jurisdiction, Standing Ruling In Clearview Biometric Suit

CHICAGO — Clearview AI Inc. lost its bid for reconsideration of a judge’s findings regarding jurisdiction and standing that favored the plaintiffs in a biometrics privacy suit, with the judge ruling on July 25 that the defendant’s arguments were unavailing and “woefully inadequate,” leading her to deny reconsideration, which she reminded the parties is not “a vehicle for rearguing previously rejected motions.”
May 24, 2022
Microsoft, Amazon Deny Any Violation Of Illinois Biometric Law

SEATTLE — In summary judgment motions filed May 19 in parallel lawsuits in Washington federal court, Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. argue that they cannot be found liable under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) for downloading a dataset of facial scans because none of the accused acts took place in Illinois and because they had no knowledge that the photos were not public domain or that the collection included scans of Illinois residents.
March 22, 2022
Macy’s Denied Interlocutory Appeal Bid In Clearview Biometric Collection MDL

CHICAGO — Macy’s Inc. failed to present any controlling questions of law that would merit an interlocutory appeal of a ruling that denied dismissal of putative class claims against the retailer under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), an Illinois federal judge ruled March 18, permitting a multidistrict litigation based on the retailer’s use of a facial scan database created by Clearview AI Inc. to proceed.
February 11, 2022
COMMENTARY: China’s New Privacy and Data Security Statutes Further Complicate U.S. Litigations

By Don Z. Wang, Brooke J. Oppenheimer and Shawn Lee
January 25, 2022
Mother Brings UCL Claim Against Social Media Platforms For Daughter’s Suicide

SAN FRANCISCO — A Connecticut woman on Jan. 20 filed a complaint in California federal court against the companies behind the social media platforms Instagram and Snapchat, accusing them of negligently designing their products in a manner that caused her daughter’s social media addiction and subsequent suicide at age 11 and of violating California’s unfair competition law.
January 07, 2022
COMMENTARY: Key U.S. Insurance Decisions, Trends, & Developments: ESG, Social Inflation, COVID-19, Cyber/Privacy, Civil Unrest, Opioids, Lead, Sexual Assault & Other Perils Figure Prominently

By Scott M. Seaman and Sarah Anderson
January 06, 2022
9th Circuit Denies Rehearing In Google, Twitter, Facebook Terror-Aiding Suits

SAN FRANCISCO — On Jan. 3, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals denied a petition for rehearing in a lawsuit brought against Google LLC under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) by a terror victim’s family, declining to address issues related to the immunity provisions of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
December 15, 2021
COMMENTARY: Key U.S. Insurance Decisions, Trends, & Developments: In These Times Of ESG, Social Inflation, COVID-19, Cyber/Privacy, Civil Unrest, Opioids & Other Perils

By Scott M. Seaman and Sarah Anderson
December 15, 2021
Plaintiffs In Clearview Photo Database Suit Defend Compel, Protective Order Motions

CHICAGO — The named plaintiffs in a putative class action alleging improper biometric data collection in a massive photo database created by Clearview AI Inc., filed reply briefs in Illinois federal court on Dec. 10 supporting motions to compel the defendant to comply with their discovery requests and to protect them from the defendant’s discovery requests for which it “cannot credibly contend” it has any “legitimate need.”
December 02, 2021
Website Remediation Method Is Obvious, Patent Challenger Says

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Dec. 1 petition for inter partes review (IPR) filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, a technology company seeks cancellation of 21 claims of a patented system and method for making websites compliant with web accessibility guidelines.
August 26, 2021
Policyholder Sues Insurer For Surreptitiously Collecting Insureds’ Biometric Data

NEW YORK — A policyholder with Lemonade Inc. filed suit against his insurer in New York federal court on Aug. 20, claiming that the company uses automated chatbots to collect its customers’ biometric data without notice or consent, alleging putative class claims for breach of contract and deceptive trade practices.
August 24, 2021
Biometric Privacy Plaintiffs Ask Court To Reject Macy’s ‘De Facto Discovery Stay’

CHICAGO — The plaintiffs in a multidistrict litigation over a massive database of photographs created by Clearview AI Inc., ask an Illinois federal judge in an Aug. 19 reply brief to compel defendant Macy’s Inc. to comply with a court order requiring the submission of initial discovery and responses to a first round of interrogatories, asserting that the retailer is attempting to avoid its discovery obligations with its filing of a motion to stay.
August 02, 2021
Employer May Examine Phones Of Former Employee Suing For Retaliation

SEATTLE — Finding that a plaintiff suing his former employer for retaliation likely acted in bad faith in not producing certain documents or disclosing the existence of a cell phone, a Washington federal judge on July 23 granted the employer’s motion to compel production of the plaintiff’s electronic devices for forensic examination.
April 15, 2021
Biometric Claim Over Facial Scans Dismissed Against Microsoft, Not Amazon

SEATTLE — In a pair of rulings issued in parallel cases April 14, a Washington federal judge dismissed claims against Microsoft Corp. under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), while declining to dismiss similar claims against Amazon.com Inc., finding that plaintiffs alleging privacy violations through the companies’ use of facial scans did not sufficiently plead that Microsoft profits from distribution of their biometric information, while holding that claims of profit by Amazon were plausibly alleged.
March 19, 2021
Privacy Suit Over Appropriated OKCupid Photos Dismissed For Lack Of Jurisdiction

CHICAGO — A woman whose dating profile pictures were used by an artificial intelligence (AI) company without her permission saw her privacy class claims against the firm dismissed March 16, with an Illinois federal judge finding insufficient evidence that the defendant purposely directed its activities at Illinois to confer specific jurisdiction in the state over it.