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As we’ve previously written, the rise of generative AI has led to a spate of copyright suits across the country. One major target of these suits has been OpenAI. Actor/comedian Sarah Silverman and author Paul Tremblay are among the plaintiffs to bring suit in California, while authors George R.R. Martin, John Grisham, and others have filed in New York. The lawsuits allege that OpenAI used the plaintiffs’ creative content without permission to train OpenAI’s generative AI tool in violation of the U.S. Copyright Act. OpenAI moved to dismiss the majority of claims in the Silverman and Tremblay cases on several bases: (1) the Copyright Act does not protect ideas, facts, or language; (2) the plaintiffs cannot show that outputs from OpenAI’s large language model (“LLM”) tool are substantially similar to the original content used to train the tool; and (3) any use of copyright-protected content by OpenAI’s tool constitutes fair use, and thus is immune to liability under the Act. Yesterday, Plaintiffs hit back, noting that OpenAI hasn’t moved to dismiss the “core claim” in the lawsuits—direct infringement.…

Continue Reading Famous Authors Clap Back at OpenAI’s Attempt to Dismiss Claims Regarding Unauthorized Use of Content for Training LLM Models

Several U.S. courts are addressing lawsuits brought by artists alleging that AI-generated art infringes on copyrights held by the artists for their artwork. In one of those cases, a California federal judge recently indicated that he would dismiss the bulk of the plaintiffs’ complaint, while giving them a chance to re-plead their claims. A written decision from the court is forthcoming, and that decision could be an important one for plaintiffs and defendants alike in current and future AI-related copyright cases.

In Andersen, et al. v. Stability AI Ltd., et al., Case No. 3:23-cv-00201-WHO (N.D. Cal.), three artists—Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz—brought suit against Stability AI Ltd., Stability AI, Inc., Midjourney, Inc., and DeviantArt, Inc. Plaintiffs alleged that Stability AI “copied and scraped” billions of images to train an AI tool called “Stable Diffusion.” These images allegedly included those originally created by the plaintiff artists. Meanwhile, the other two defendants created programs allowing users to access Stability AI’s tool, which generates images in response to text prompts entered by users. Plaintiffs asserted that the defendants’ conduct resulted in, among other things, copyright infringement of the plaintiffs’ artwork. Plaintiffs also argued that the defendants engaged in vicarious copyright infringement by permitting their users to enter text prompts that resulted in infringing images.…

Continue Reading California Court Casts Doubt on Copyright Claims Relating to AI Images

Don’t worry, machines haven’t completely replaced humans as artists—at least, not yet. But the U.S. Copyright Office is considering the possibility.

The Copyright Office recently declared that it will not grant protection over AI-generated works, upholding its longstanding rule that non-human authors cannot own copyright. At the same time, the Office is well aware that…

 A new track by Drake and The Weeknd is going viral on social media and is bound to top the charts. The song “Heart on my Sleeve” details the emotional trauma of The Weeknd’s breakup with pop star Selena Gomez in a tear jerker that extends just over two minutes. The song has been hailed…

The Super Bowl is one of the most highly anticipated events in the world of sports, attracting millions of fans, advertisers, and sponsors from around the globe. Because of this, Super Bowl advertisements are plentiful both before and during the game. However, keen observers may notice that, while some companies directly refer to the event…

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti recently announced a partnership with OpenAI’s ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool in a move he said would create a “new model for digital media.” Artificial intelligence would become “part of our core business” by “enhancing the quiz experience, informing our brainstorming, and personalizing our content for our audience.” In short, “the creative…

This is the latest in the series titled “NPE Showcase,” where we discuss high-volume non-practicing entities (or as some call them, “patent trolls”). This installment will focus on a company named Stormborn Technologies, an IP Edge entity.

Many high-volume NPEs are subsidiaries of a larger company that segregates liability by creating separate LLCs for each…

Famed director Quentin Tarantino and production company Miramax settled their infringement lawsuit over non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) before the US District Court for the Central District of California could weigh in on the merits of the claims, leaving us with far more questions than answers when it comes to the development of intellectual property law around…