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Mealey's Copyright

  • October 06, 2025

    High Court Rejects Writer’s Claim That Copyright Expert Was Wrongly Excluded

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 6 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from a playwright who contended that the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a California federal judge’s grant of summary judgment to film production entities the writer accused of copying elements of her work.

  • October 03, 2025

    AI Copyright Plaintiffs Blocked From Expanded Discovery For 3rd Time

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California on Oct. 2 declined to expand the datasets subject to discovery in an artificial intelligence copyright suit, relying on her previous conclusion that discovery should be limited to The Pile dataset, which contains the copyrighted works and was used to train Nvidia Corp.’s NeMo Megatron large language model.

  • October 03, 2025

    Judge Tosses Temu’s Antitrust Claims Against Shein But Lets IP Claims Survive

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed much of a suit brought by the company behind online store Temu against the company behind competitor Shein, tossing claims of trade secret misappropriation, antitrust violations and others, but the judge will allow claims of copyright and trade dress infringement, along with other intellectual property claims, to proceed.

  • October 02, 2025

    D.C. Circuit Won’t Reconsider Copyright Register Job Interference Ruling

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals issued two per curiam orders Oct. 1 denying reconsideration and en banc reconsideration of a Sept. 10 order enjoining various federal government parties from interfering with Shira Perlmutter’s service as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office pending appeal.

  • October 01, 2025

    6th Circuit: Software Company’s Copyright, Trade Secret Claims Fail

    CINCINNATI — An Ohio federal judge properly granted summary judgment to a defendant software company on trade secret and copyright infringement claims, a Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held, finding that the plaintiff software company’s trade secret claims were time-barred and that it failed to substantiate its copyright claim.

  • September 30, 2025

    Ross Intelligence Asks 3rd Circuit To Overturn AI Copyright Ruling

    PHILADELPHIA — Headnotes quote judicial opinions that are public property and not subject to copyright protections, and their limited use in training artificial intelligence constituted fair use, legal search company Ross Intelligence Inc. told the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an opening brief challenging direct copyright and fair use summary judgment rulings.

  • September 26, 2025

    Judge Affirms Limits On Dataset Discovery In AI Copyright Fight

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Sept. 25 denied a motion for relief from a magistrate judge’s order limiting discovery into the datasets used to train artificial intelligence, saying courts regularly impose such limits when the discovery exceeds the allegations in a complaint.

  • September 26, 2025

    Judge: No Summary Judgment On IP Claims In Learning Materials Sharing Case

    HARTFORD, Conn. — A Connecticut federal judge held that the owner of an online platform that allows users to share educational resources with each other will face copyright and trademark claims from a private university in the state, but the judge granted the platform owner’s motion for summary judgment as to certain state law claims.

  • September 26, 2025

    Authors Challenge Limits On Shadow Library Discovery In Nvidia AI Copyright Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — Responding to a motion by authors arguing that a magistrate judge improperly limited discovery to a single dataset in an artificial intelligence copyright suit, Nvidia Corp. told the court that the order merely limits the plaintiffs to their own allegations and that there was no error sufficient to overturn the nondispositive order.

  • September 26, 2025

    Judge Preliminarily Approves $1.5B Settlement In AI Copyright Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — A $1.5 billion settlement between authors and Anthropic PBC in a copyright case took a step toward resolution on Sept. 25 when a federal judge in California granted preliminary approval in a docket-only minute entry.  The authors previously told the judge in a supplemental brief that changes to the agreement addressed concerns about its completeness.

  • September 24, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Won’t Order Immediate Damages Update In AI Music Copyright Suit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal magistrate judge in California declined to order music publishers to immediately supplement damages computations under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26 in an artificial intelligence copyright suit, noting the novelty and complexity of the issue.

  • September 24, 2025

    Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction In Latest Copyright Case Over Hulk Hogan Tape

    TAMPA, Fla. — A federal judge in Florida dissolved a temporary restraining order against a radio personality barring him from publishing portions of a sex tape featuring the late professional wrestler known as Hulk Hogan in a documentary film about the tape; the judge held that the record indicated that the use of the tape in the film is likely a fair use.

  • September 24, 2025

    AI Copyright Authors: Revised Plan Should Relieve Concerns Over $1.5B Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — Changes to the proposed $1.5 billion artificial intelligence copyright settlement between authors and Anthropic PBC address court concerns through “a state-of-the-art notice plan” and a streamlined claims process that both encourages submissions and adequately handles multi-claimant situations, plaintiffs told a federal judge in California in a supplemental brief.

  • September 23, 2025

    U.S. Moves To Participate In High Court Oral Arguments In ISP Infringement Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. government on Sept. 23 requested leave to participate in oral arguments when the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred when it found an internet service provider (ISP) was liable for contributory infringement for piracy actions from internet users; the government previously filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the ISP.

  • September 23, 2025

    Petitioner Seeks 11th Circuit Rehearing On Sub Shop Copyright Claims

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a Florida federal judge’s decision to dismiss a pro se plaintiff-appellant’s copyright infringement claims against the commercial entity behind the Firehouse Subs restaurant chain, the appellant tells the court in a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc, arguing that the panel misunderstood the facts when writing its unpublished opinion.

  • September 23, 2025

    Magistrate Judge Won’t Order Production Of NYT’s AI Chat Usage

    NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York denied a motion to compel by OpenAI entities and Microsoft seeking user logs from The New York Times’ internal ChatGPT-based tool, ruling that the logs are irrelevant to the fair use defense and would cost nearly $1 million and three months to review and produce.

  • September 23, 2025

    2nd Circuit Affirms Kimmel’s Copyright Win Over Former New York Rep.

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel agreed with a New York federal judge that late-night show host Jimmy Kimmel’s use of videos recorded by former Congressman George Santos on his show was a fair use, affirming the judge’s decision to dismiss Santos’ copyright infringement claim against the host and related entities.

  • September 16, 2025

    Judge Rules On Summary Judgment Motions In Copyright Infringement Coverage Suit

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge granted in part and denied in part primary and excess insurers’ motions for summary judgment in a coverage dispute arising from copyright infringement claims brought against an insured, finding that the movie studio’s claims against the insured are not indemnifiable but the record company claims against the insured are potentially indemnifiable.

  • September 15, 2025

    Disney’s JMOL Win In Face Capturing Software IP Fight Reversed By 9th Circuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held that a California federal judge erred by granting posttrial judgment as a matter of law in favor of Walt Disney Pictures on a software company’s copyright infringement claim, holding that there was sufficient evidence for a jury to plausibly find that Disney was liable for vicarious infringement of the company’s facial imaging software.

  • September 15, 2025

    AI Exam Company Must Face Copyright Claims, Judge Says

    LOS ANGELES — An education exam company’s allegations that it curates test prep materials and that a competitor reproduces that work and uses it for training its artificial intelligence are sufficient to trigger copyright law protections and survive a motion to dismiss, a federal judge in California said.

  • September 12, 2025

    Google AI Copyright Case Proceeds As Court Preps For AI Metadata Discovery Issue

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge on Sept. 11 dismissed with prejudice claims involving certain Google LLC artificial intelligence models and vicarious liability claims against parent company Alphabet Inc. but otherwise denied a motion to dismiss.  Earlier a magistrate judge said she would not take up artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ request to appoint a special master but would hold a hearing on a motion to compel after plaintiffs complained that discovery lacked metadata critical to identifying copyrighted material.  Google LLC filed its response to the motion on Sept. 10, saying it had “gone above and beyond” what was required of it.

  • September 12, 2025

    2nd Circuit: Labels Waived Inducement Argument, But Opinion Slightly Amended

    NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel partly granted a group of record labels’ petition to reconsider its finding that the labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, agreeing to remove a footnote musing on whether the labels had preserved for U.S. Supreme Court review arguments that Vimeo could not be entitled to the safe harbor defined in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

  • September 11, 2025

    Split Panel Enjoins Interference With Copyright Register’s Job Pending Appeal

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A divided District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Sept. 10 enjoined various federal government parties from interfering with Shira Perlmutter’s service as the register of copyrights and director of the U.S. Copyright Office pending appeal; Perlmutter appealed a trial court’s denial of her motion for preliminary injunction in a case challenging her purported firing in May by President Donald J. Trump.

  • September 11, 2025

    Designers, Shein Settle Claims Retailer Used AI To Misappropriate Works

    LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California dismissed a case after eight independent designers reported having reached a binding settlement with Shein Distribution Corp. and related entities over claims that the retailer used an artificial intelligence algorithm to identify popular styles and then misappropriated copyrighted works.

  • September 11, 2025

    No Special Master, But Judge Will Hear AI Metadata Discovery Issue

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge said she would not take up artificial intelligence copyright plaintiffs’ request to appoint a special master but would hold a hearing on a motion to compel after plaintiffs complained that discovery lacked metadata critical to identifying copyrighted material.  Google LLC filed its response to the motion on Sept. 10, saying it had “gone above and beyond” what was required of it.