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Mealey's Copyright

  • February 21, 2025

    NBA Teams, Others To High Court: Take Up Copyright ‘Discovery Rule’ Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of eight teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) filed one of three amicus curiae briefs in support of a design company’s argument before the U.S. Supreme Court that the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly vacated a New York federal judge’s finding that copyright claims against it were time-barred.

  • February 21, 2025

    Citing ‘Glacial Pace,’ Plaintiffs In AI Copyright Suit Seek To Compel Discovery

    SAN FRANCISCO — While the company behind the Claude artificial intelligence promises to produce discovery before upcoming deadlines, its “glacial pace” over the last four months necessitates a court order compelling the production by certain deadlines to ensure that it doesn’t benefit from further delay, plaintiffs in a copyright suit tell a federal judge in California in a Jan. 20 letter brief.

  • February 21, 2025

    Perplexity AI Says New York Court No Place For Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — A copyright lawsuit challenging an artificial intelligence-assisted search engine doesn’t belong in New York courts, Perplexity AI Inc. told a federal judge there while advocating for dismissal or transfer to a court in San Francisco.

  • February 21, 2025

    9th Circuit: Singer Can’t Show Katy Perry, Others Infringed Song

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a California federal judge’s dismissal of a woman’s suit against pop singer Katy Perry and several associated individuals and record labels, agreeing with the judge that the woman failed to show how Perry’s song “Smile” infringed on a song she wrote and recorded.

  • February 20, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Publisher Doesn’t Show Infringement In Audiobook Dispute

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 19 agreed with a New York federal judge that an author’s publishing company clearly permitted the distribution of audiobooks based on her work, including through subscription programs offered by Amazon.com Inc. through its audiobook platform, affirming the judge’s dismissal of the publisher’s copyright infringement claims.

  • February 19, 2025

    Judge: State Law Claims Preempted In Rap Song Copyright Battle

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York rejected a request from a group of rappers and associated recording entities to dismiss copyright infringement claims against them accusing them of wrongfully denying another rapper writing credit for a 2016 smash hit, holding that the plaintiff rapper stated his claims adequately enough to survive dismissal.

  • February 13, 2025

    Judge Upholds Limits On Depositions, Discovery In ChatGPT Copyright Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California denied a motion for relief from a pretrial order, turning away arguments that limits on depositions were improper in such a complex copyright infringement case and that OpenAI entities’ income was relevant evidence in the case.

  • February 12, 2025

    Federal Circuit Says AI Researcher Again Fails To Show Government Took Research

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has again upheld the dismissal of a pro se complainant’s claims against the U.S. government, rejecting arguments that the government inappropriately used his research into artificial intelligence and that a judge in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims committed judicial misconduct in overseeing the case.

  • February 12, 2025

    Thomson Reuters Largely Prevails On Summary Judgment In AI Copyright Case

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GMBH’s headnotes surpass the low bar for originality, and sufficient evidence exists that a competitor actually or substantially copied thousands of them to train its artificial intelligence with the intent to compete in the same market, a federal judge in Delaware said Feb. 11 in largely granting summary judgment.

  • February 06, 2025

    IBM To High Court: 5th Circuit’s Contract Ruling Unrelated To Copyrights

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) told the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 5 that it should not grant a petitioner company’s request for a writ of certiorari because there was no error when the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a $1.6 billion award in a contract dispute between the companies.

  • February 05, 2025

    9th Circuit: Former Church Member Lost License To Share Teachings In 2021

    SEATTLE — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a Washington federal judge that a former member of a Seattle-based religious community did not breach a licensing agreement by uploading copyrighted church materials after the 1999 death of the organization’s founder but reversed the judge’s finding that the license was terminated in 2021.

  • February 03, 2025

    Judge: Microsoft Must Comply With Constitutional Notice Rule In AI Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — A federal court rule governing notice for constitutional questions applies to Microsoft Corp.’s “as applied” challenge to New York’s trademark dilution statute in an artificial intelligence case, a federal judge in the state said in ordering Microsoft to comply with the rule.

  • February 03, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Fair Use Finding In Aerospace Testing Code Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge correctly found that an aerospace company’s use of replacement parts with copyrighted code from an aircraft testing software company constituted a fair use, a panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held in a per curiam memorandum disposition.

  • January 30, 2025

    Spotify’s Subscription Is A ‘Bundle’ For Royalty Purposes, Judge Finds

    NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Jan. 29 dismissed with prejudice a government-appointed music license administrator’s copyright lawsuit brought against music streamer Spotify USA Inc., holding that the license administrator failed to show how Spotify violated copyright law by reporting its “Premium” subscription product as a “bundled subscription offering” instead of simply a “subscription offering.”

  • January 29, 2025

    Atari, State Farm Settle Infringement Claim Over Arcade Cabinet In Insurance Ads

    DALLAS — Atari Interactive Inc. and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. and advertising companies that worked with it stipulated to the dismissal of all claims stemming from allegations that State Farm used an Atari arcade cabinet in an ad campaign without the company’s permission.

  • January 28, 2025

    Judge Tosses Designer’s Copyright Claims For Use Of Character On Album Art

    LOS ANGELES — A designer who accused a hip-hop producer of copyright infringement for using a character he designed on multiple album covers since 1999 failed to show that the implied license granted to the producer had any kind of expiration date, a federal judge in California held, granting a motion from the producer and related entities for judgment on the pleadings.

  • January 24, 2025

    Judge Says First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Apply To Software Keys

    SEATTLE — The first sale doctrine does not apply to software product keys, a federal judge in Washington held Jan. 23, because those keys are not themselves copyrightable works, granting partial summary judgment as to a single affirmative defense in favor of the Microsoft Corp. against a Canadian entity and several individuals Microsoft called “prolific distributors of black market access devices to Microsoft software that they unlawfully advertise to consumers as genuine software.”

  • January 23, 2025

    11th Circuit: Judge Wrong To Toss Architect’s Copyright, Contract Claims

    ATLANTA — A federal judge in Florida was wrong to dismiss copyright infringement and breach of contract claims brought by an architect and firms he controls against multiple entities in a relationship that soured over a condominium construction project, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 22, vacating the judge’s order.

  • January 23, 2025

    9th Circuit: No Rehearing For Playwright In Copyright Row With Studio

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 22 denied a playwright’s motion for en banc rehearing, standing by its affirmation of a federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a film studio and related entities the writer accused of copying elements from a stage production she wrote.

  • January 22, 2025

    OpenAI Isn’t Entitled To Discovery Of All AI Usage, New York Times Says

    NEW YORK — OpenAI Inc.’s contention that its fair use defense requires The New York Times Co. (NYT) to produce any and all evidence related to its use of artificial intelligence of any kind and in any manner seeks to “distract from its own massive copyright infringement” and was properly rejected by a magistrate judge, the company says in responding to an objection to a ruling denying a motion to compel.

  • January 21, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Rejects Meta’s ‘False Dichotomy,’ Faults Some AI Discovery

    SAN FRANCISCO — Meta Platforms Inc.’s “false dichotomy” about the possible answers regarding its use of copyrighted material in an artificial intelligence case is based on minor quibbles about the extent of the copying and does not “justify the hopelessly vague” answers it offered about what its search of the training data revealed, a federal magistrate judge in California said Jan. 17 in partially granting motions to compel.

  • January 21, 2025

    Supreme Court Won’t Consider If Canadian Codes Are Uncopyrightable ‘Law’

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rejecting the petition for a writ of certiorari from a developer of Canadian legal codes on Jan. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a holding from the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a publishing company did not infringe on the developer’s copyrights because the codes are effectively uncopyrightable “law” in the country.

  • January 21, 2025

    Sushi Restaurant Could Not Have Been Unaware Of Copyright Claims, Judge Rules

    NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey sushi restaurant either recklessly or willfully ignored copyright infringement claims brought against it by an artist who claimed that the restaurant used an unauthorized copy of his work in advertising, a federal judge in the state held, denying the restaurant’s plea to vacate an entry of default.

  • January 17, 2025

    8th Circuit: Floor Plans Don’t Infringe On Home Designer’s Copyright

    ST. LOUIS — Two real estate agents’ use of floor plans of homes in resale listings was a noninfringing fair use, a panel in the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held; the panel rejected arguments from the designer and his company that a Missouri federal judge should have found copyright infringement.

  • January 16, 2025

    9th Circuit: Kinetic Sculpture Company’s Copyright Claim Survives Dismissal

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a plaintiff company adequately alleged that another company infringed on copyrighted elements of its kinetic sculptures that could be manipulated into various shapes to survive a dismissal motion; the panel reversed a California federal judge’s order dismissing the copyright infringement claim.