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Mealey's Copyright

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a petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc, arguing that the panel misunderstood the facts when writing its unpublished opinion.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.
September 11, 2025
8th Circuit: No Errors In Family Name HVAC Trademark Jury Instructions

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said it found no error in a Missouri federal judge’s grant of summary judgment on copyright claims or jury instructions on trademark claims in a dispute over the use of a family name between two heating and air conditioning entities after a founding member of the family business started a new company, affirming findings adverse to the plaintiff-appellant entity.
September 10, 2025
Superman, Tweety Bird Owners Sue Midjourney Over AI’s Outputs

LOS ANGELES — Midjourney Inc. knowingly trains its artificial intelligence on copyrighted works and allows users to generate unauthorized reproductions despite having the technological prowess to prevent it, the owners of characters such as Batman, Superman, Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird allege in a lawsuit filed in California federal court.
September 10, 2025
Judge Questions Completeness Of $1.5B Settlement Between Authors, Anthropic

SAN FRANCISCO — The federal judge overseeing the artificial intelligence copyright class action against Anthropic PBC questioned the completeness of the $1.5 billion settlement, expressing concerns that important questions remained that could not be answered in the timeframe proposed by the parties. The judge postponed preliminary approval of the agreement until the parties could submit clarifying information.
September 08, 2025
Authors, Anthropic Reach $1.5 Billion Settlement Of AI Copyright Class Action

SAN FRANCISCO — Anthropic PBC has agreed to pay no less than $1.5 billion to resolve claims it improperly pirated nearly half a million books while obtaining data for use in training its Claude artificial intelligence, a class of authors says in a Sept. 5 motion for preliminary settlement approval.
September 08, 2025
ISPs, U.S. To High Court: ISP Infringement Liability Ruling Could Stifle Web

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of trade organizations representing internet service providers (ISPs) tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 5 amicus curiae brief that the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that an ISP was liable for contributory infringement for piracy actions from internet users could “undermine decades of progress in getting Americans everywhere connected to the Internet.”
September 05, 2025
11th Circuit: ‘Shotgun’ Copyright Case Against Sub Shop Rightfully Tossed

ATLANTA — 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 was affirmed by a panel in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, which found no abuse of discretion in the judge’s finding that the complaint was an impermissible shotgun pleading.
September 05, 2025
Judge: Tech Company Established Ownership In IP Fight With TikTok Before Trial

SAN FRANCISCO — In a pair of orders, a California federal judge held that a China-based company adequately established that it owns the asserted copyrights and trade secrets in a “heavily litigated” dispute with TikTok Inc. and affiliated entities, including source code from an earlier video-editing app that preceded the plaintiff entity’s app. The judge found that there is no triable issue of fact as to the ownership of the code.
September 03, 2025
Design Firm Tells High Court 8th Circuit Got Floor Plan Fair Use Case Wrong

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A design company is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its petition for a writ of certiorari, arguing that the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that two real estate agents’ use of floor plans in home resale listings was a noninfringing fair use created a doctrinal “Catch-22” that makes owners of copyrights of architectural details unable to enforce their rights.
September 02, 2025
9th Circuit Resurrects Copyright Dispute Over Catholic Liturgical Songs

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel revived a copyright infringement dispute between two writers of Catholic liturgical music, partly reversing an Oregon federal judge’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant-appellee songwriter and her publisher because questions of fact remain as to whether the defendant songwriter had access to the plaintiff-appellant’s hymn.
August 29, 2025
Point Of Robots.txt Focus In Publishers’ AI Copyright Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — Whether the robots.txt file instructions barring bot scraping of websites constitutes a binding technical measure or simply directions that can be ignored came before a federal judge in New York, as OpenAI Inc. entities and a publisher of 45 media brands brief a motion to dismiss.
August 27, 2025
Federal Judge: Contract Counterclaims In Copyright Fight Barred By State Case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A federal judge in Connecticut granted a plaintiff design company’s motion for summary judgment on all of a defendant technology company’s contract-related counterclaims under the doctrine of res judicata, but the judge said there were unresolved factual disputes regarding the design company’s copyright infringement claims that stem from a dispute over a website it was commissioned by the technology company to make.
August 27, 2025
Copyright Suit Parties Debate Relevance Of Newspaper’s AI Use

NEW YORK — The New York Times Co., Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI entities sparred over whether the newspaper’s use of an in-house ChatGPT tool could constitute evidence of fair use defense in a copyright case or whether such use is noninfringing and not relevant to the claims in the New York federal court case.