Federal courts continue to address whether training artificial intelligence ("AI") models on copyrighted materials without a license constitutes copyright infringement....more
7/1/2025
/ Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Books ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Innovative Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Machine Learning ,
Training ,
Transformative Use
To address the legal issues presented by artificial intelligence ("AI"), the U.S. Copyright Office ("Office") launched a multi-part Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Report ("Report") (see our Commentaries on Part One and...more
5/27/2025
/ Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Office ,
Fair Use ,
Government Agencies ,
Innovative Technology ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Machine Learning ,
New Guidance
The Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") issued a landmark decision on February 25, 2025, in the case of BSH Hausgeräte GmbH v. Electrolux AB. The ruling extends the jurisdiction of EU courts to adjudicate...more
3/3/2025
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Design Patent ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Injunctions ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Jurisdiction ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademarks
There are numerous actions currently pending in federal courts that involve artificial intelligence ("AI") and copyright law. Among other things, courts must determine if infringement occurs when an AI is trained on...more
2/26/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Fair Use ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal Research ,
Legal Training ,
Machine Learning ,
Thomson Reuters ,
Westlaw
Artificial intelligence ("AI") raises unique challenges in the context of copyright law. To address and clarify various issues arising at the intersection of AI and copyright, the U.S. Copyright Office ("Office") is in the...more
The Supreme Court held that copyright owners who file a timely claim may obtain damages no matter when the copyright infringement occurred. ...more
5/14/2024
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Ownership ,
Damages ,
Discovery ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
The Copyright Act ,
Warner Chappell Music v Nealy
In Short -
The Situation: Workforces are increasingly using generative artificial intelligence ("AI") platforms to generate diverse content ranging from marketing materials, translations, source code, and more....more
Background -
On February 14, 2022, the Review Board of the U.S. Copyright Office denied a second request for reconsideration regarding a refusal to register artwork created by AI. Importantly, the application for...more
The Supreme Court holds that the Copyright Act's safe harbor provision preserves the validity of a copyright registration notwithstanding an inaccuracy in the underlying application based on a good-faith mistake—regardless of...more
U.S. Supreme Court holds that Google's use of a small fraction of Oracle's Java SE API code for its Android platform is a fair use under copyright law.
On April 5, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ended a more than 10-year...more
Revisiting the government edicts doctrine for the first time in more than a century, the U.S. Supreme Court in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., No. 18–1150, 590 U.S. ___ (2020), split 5-4 to hold that annotations to...more
5/6/2020
/ Annotated Case Law ,
Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyrightable Subject Matter ,
Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc ,
Government Edicts Doctrine ,
Legislative Duties ,
Reaffirmation ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Statutory Code ,
The Copyright Act
In Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corporation v. Wall-Street.com, the U.S. Supreme Court tackled questions relating to copyright applications vs. copyright registrations, while in Rimini Street v. Oracle, the justices ruled on...more
3/15/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Exhaustion ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Copyright Registration ,
Damages ,
Expert Fees ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Prevailing Party ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Rimini Street Inc v Oracle USA Inc ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniformity
A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court rules that copyright owners must have a copyright registration before pursuing infringement claims in court.
Resolving a circuit split and a question facing any copyright owner wishing to...more
3/12/2019
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Registration ,
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp v Wall-Street.com LLC ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Solicitor General ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act ,
Uniformity
A unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court held that the word "full" was insufficient to justify awarding additional, nontaxable costs to the prevailing party.
Under the American Rule, the prevailing party ordinarily must bear...more
3/12/2019
/ American Rule ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Expert Fees ,
Judicial Discretion ,
Litigation Fees & Costs ,
Prevailing Party ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Rimini Street Inc v Oracle USA Inc ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
The Copyright Act
A federal appeals court finds that online music service ReDigi infringed Capitol Records' copyrights by allowing users to resell legally purchased iTunes files.
Digital music files may not be lawfully resold, according to...more
12/20/2018
/ Capitol Records ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Digital Downloads ,
Digital Goods ,
First Sale Doctrine ,
iTunes ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
ReDigi Inc ,
Secondary Markets ,
The Copyright Act
When does inspiration turn into copyright infringement? The line is getting blurrier. Jones Day’s Meredith Wilkes, Anna Raimer, and Aryane Garansi explain how the Ninth Circuit’s decision—on “narrow grounds”—in the Blurred...more
4/11/2018
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Evidence ,
Expert Testimony ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Judgment on the Merits ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Marvin Gaye ,
Motion for Summary Judgment ,
Music Industry ,
Pharrell Williams ,
Robin Thicke ,
Royalties ,
Rule 50 ,
Substantially Similar
The Decision: The Ninth Circuit upheld the district court decision finding Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke's song "Blurred Lines" infringed the copyright in Marvin Gaye's song "Got To Give It Up."
The Reasoning: Based...more
3/28/2018
/ Appeals ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Damages ,
Jury Verdicts ,
Marvin Gaye ,
Music ,
Music Industry ,
Pharrell Williams ,
Robin Thicke
In a decision likely to affect the fashion and design industries, on March 22, 2017, the United States Supreme Court clarified the test for determining when a design feature incorporated into a "useful article" (such as...more
3/29/2017
/ Cheerleaders ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Fashion Design ,
Fashion Industry ,
Graphic Designs ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 101 ,
Separability ,
Sports Apparel ,
Star Athletica v Varsity Brands ,
Uniforms ,
Utilitarian Function