Recently, Sony Music Entertainment sued USC for posting promotional videos to social media accounts linked to the university that use unlicensed musical tracks. According to the suit, USC used 170 unlicensed music recordings on 283 social media videos across 30 social...
We have written several articles touching on how it is not possible to obtain copyright protection for an idea. What is protectable is the specific tangible execution of that idea. A variation on this concept has come into play regarding the recently added ability of...
Ever since “Levitating” became a monster hit in 2020, the Dua Lipa song has been a magnet for legal action. In 2022, both Artikal Sound System – a Florida reggae group – and L. Russel Brown and Sandy Linzer – a pair of songwriters – filed lawsuits arguing that Lipa’s...
Tangle, Inc. is the owner of copyright registrations for seven different sculptures that are both kinetic and manipulable. Each sculpture is made out of 17-to-18 tubular segments that are curved 90 degrees and completely identical. Once connected, each segment can be...
In 2018, Stephen Thaler attempted to get copyright protection for a piece of visual art called “A Recent Entrance to Paradise.” The work was created by DABUS, an AI system made by Thaler. Interestingly, Thaler did not apply for a copyright for himself. Rather, he...
Way back in 2003, animator Buck Woodall claims he provided both the screenplay and a trailer for the animated film Bucky to a production company that had a first-look deal with Disney. At the time, that production company had offices on Disney facilities in Burbank,...
Thomson Reuters has won a legal battle against Ross Intelligence for the latter using material from Reuters’ Westlaw platform to train their AI model. On February 11, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a 2023 decision, issuing a summary judgment decision...
At the end of January, the Copyright Office released part two of its long-awaited report offering guidance on the copyrightability of AI-created works. For those who have been paying close attention over the past year, the Copyright Office’s AI report is essentially...