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Appeals Copyright Litigation

Farella Braun + Martel LLP

Fair Use at Scale: When Is "Spectacularly" Transformative Use Still Not Fair?

The recent ruling in a lawsuit against Anthropic highlights a growing complexity in how courts are approaching fair use in the context of AI training. Judge William Alsup held that developing Anthropic’s Claude model was...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Que sera, sera: No declaratory relief after songwriter’s heir terminated copyright assignments

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Addressing the intersection of a trust beneficiary’s rights to royalties and an heir’s copyright termination rights under 17 U.S.C. § 203, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Use of Floorplans in Real Estate Listings is Permissible Under U.S. Copyright Law

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Floor plans are a key part of real estate listings, providing fundamental information about the layout of a building to prospective buyers or renters. But home designer Charles James and his company Designworks Homes, Inc....more

McDermott Will & Emery

Supreme Court to consider whether ISPs can be liable for contributory copyright infringement

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The Supreme Court of the United States has agreed to review whether an internet service provider (ISP) can be liable for copyright infringement for providing an internet connection that leads to piracy. Cox Communications,...more

Wiley Rein LLP

Supreme Court Takes Up Cox Communications Copyright Infringement Case

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On June 30, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal in Cox Communications, Inc. v. Sony Music Entertainment, setting the stage for the high court to define copyright infringement liability for internet service...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Two Federal Courts Rule That Reproduction of Books to Train LLMs Is Fair Use - But with Caveats and Strikingly Different Views

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In separate high-profile actions brought by authors against Anthropic and Meta, two California federal judges ruled that the reproduction of copyright-protected books to train large language models (LLMs) was fair use that...more

Loeb & Loeb LLP

In Re: OpenAI Inc., Copyright Infringement Litigation

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District court denies motion to reconsider dismissal of claims that OpenAI removed copyright management information in violation of Digital Millenium Copyright Act, holding that inconsistency between dismissal order and...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Anthropic and Meta fair use rulings on AI model training

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America’s frontier artificial intelligence (AI) labs have faced years of copyright litigation over their ingestion of books, news, and other expressive works. Yet, until this week, no US court had squarely applied the four...more

Fenwick & West LLP

Ninth Circuit Pumps Brakes on Character Copyright Claim over Action Movie Car

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In a new precedential decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held in Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc. v. Halicki that “Eleanor,” a stable of Ford Mustangs that appears across four action films, is not a copyrightable...more

Weintraub Tobin

The Briefing: The Ninth Circuit Puts the Brakes on Eleanor’s Copyright Claim

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Can a car be a copyrightable character? In Carroll Shelby Licensing v. Halicki, the Ninth Circuit said no — ruling that “Eleanor,” the iconic Mustang from ‘Gone in 60 Seconds,’ lacks the distinctiveness and consistency...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

When Is a Car a Character? The Ninth Circuit Revisits Copyrightability in Halicki v. Carroll Shelby Licensing

The Copyright Act does not expressly address the protection of individual characters in expressive works, but courts have long recognized that certain characters, particularly those with strong visual or narrative identities,...more

Kaufman & Canoles

K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup - June 2025 #3

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A former University of Michigan assistant football coach accused of hacking the personal information and intimate photos of thousands of students has asked a Michigan federal judge to set aside a default entry against him,...more

Loeb & Loeb LLP

Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc. v. Halicki

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Ninth Circuit holds that custom Ford Mustang called “Eleanor,” which appeared in four films from 1974 to 2000, is not entitled to character copyright protection under Towle test and that licensor of custom car design did not...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

Three Point Shot - May 2025

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Rough Terrain Ahead: New York Ski Resort Operator Appeals Ruling That It Violated Antitrust Law by Buying Out Direct Competitor - Intermountain Management Inc. (“Intermountain”), a company operating popular ski areas...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Running on Empty: ‘Stang’ With No Anthropomorphic Characteristics Isn’t Copyrightable Character

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s denial of copyright protection for a car that had a name but no anthropomorphic or protectable characteristics. Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc. v....more

McDermott Will & Emery

No Fair Use Defense Results in Default Judgment

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a district court’s dismissal of a copyright infringement claim alleging copying of a photograph, finding that the defendant’s use of the photograph did not constitute...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Plausibly Alleging Access Requires More Than Social Media Visibility

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The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a copyright action, finding that the plaintiff failed to plausibly allege either that the defendant had “access” to the work in question...more

Loeb & Loeb LLP

Woodland v. Hill

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Ninth Circuit affirms dismissal of copyright infringement claim against musician Lil Nas X, finding that mere availability of plaintiff influencer’s photographs on Instagram does not amount to access to those photographs and...more

McDermott Will & Emery

No Protectable Code: No Literal or Nonliteral Copying

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The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court’s ruling that a plaintiff failed to establish copyright protection for its software platforms, drawing a distinction between “literal” copying (direct...more

Weintraub Tobin

The Briefing: No CTRL-ALT-DEL For the Server Test

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On this episode of The Briefing, Scott Hervey and James Kachmar break down the Supreme Court’s decision to pass on the McGuckin v. Valnet case—and how it keeps the legal confusion swirling around the “server test” for...more

Loeb & Loeb LLP

Sound and Color, LLC v. Samuel Smith

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Ninth Circuit reverses summary judgment in favor of pop singer Sam Smith in music copyright dispute, holding in unpublished opinion that hook in plaintiff’s song may be protectable as unique selection and arrangement of...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Ninth Circuit Revives Copyright Suit Over Sam Smith’s “Dancing with a Stranger” and Reaffirms the Jury’s Role

On April 29, 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals revived the copyright infringement case filed by Sound and Color, LLC against Sam Smith, Normani, and related parties (collectively, “Defendants”) concerning the hit song...more

Kaufman & Canoles

K&C Sports & Entertainment Law Weekly Roundup - April 2025 #4

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Jack Nicklaus just scored a $1 million win in a New York court, striking back against his former company’s attempt to control his personal brand....more

Irwin IP LLP

Server Test in the Spotlight: What You See or How You See It?

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Elliot McGucken v. Valnet, Inc., No. 24-1040 (U.S. filed Mar. 28, 2025) - Introduction - In the Magician’s Nephew, C.S. Lewis wrote that “[w]hat you see… depends a good deal on where you are standing….,” but is the...more

Hogan Lovells

When AI and Copyright clash: Chinese courts find AI platform liable for contributory copyright infringement based on AI generated...

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The Hangzhou Internet Court recently found a Chinese AI platform liable for contributory copyright infringement, after the platform allowed users to create, apply and share models enabling the AI generation of variations on...more

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