Policy

ASCAP is facing a lawsuit claiming it “severely underpays” for so-called production music used by talk and sports radio stations, wrongfully withholding more than $120 million in royalties from their rightful owners. The case claims ASCAP’s policies pay out royalties for only a fraction of the actual performances of such songs, which often play on news, talk or sports radio programs as background music or during segment transitions.

Source: ASCAP Faces $123M Lawsuit Over Production Music on News Radio: ‘Financially Devastating’

A broad coalition of news publishers have backed shared licensing technology which seeks to protect content in the AI era. Really Simple Licensing (RSL) sets out an agreed way of controlling and monetizing journalism which is used to feed large language models. RSL is being developed by RSL Collective, a non-profit collective rights organization led by former CEO of IAB Publishing Doug Leeds and former CEO of Cardspring Eckart Walther.

Source: Major publishers back universal AI licensing technology

Ninety-five per cent of the more than 10,000 people who had their say over how music, novels, films and other works should be protected from copyright infringements by tech companies called for copyright to be strengthened and a requirement for licensing in all cases or no change to copyright law. By contrast, only 3% of people backed the government’s initial preferred tech company-friendly option.

Source: Boost for artists in AI copyright battle as only 3% back UK active opt-out plan

A federal judge on Monday advanced a trio of copyright claims brought by digital publisher Ziff Davis against ChatGPT maker OpenAI, while the artificial intelligence firm won dismissal of several others. Ziff Davis, a global digital media company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, accuses OpenAI of scraping its online content without authorization to train the artificial intelligence chatbot’s language technology.

Source: Judge advances digital publisher Ziff Davis’ ChatGPT copyright infringement claims

U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday (Dec. 8) urging the examination of “potential unfair or deceptive acts or practices by performing rights organizations (PROs) which could constitute a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act.” Specifically, Fitzgerald’s letter, obtained by Billboard, centers its concerns on the two newest PROs in the U.S.: AllTrack and Pro Music Rights.

Source: U.S. Congressman Asks FTC to Investigate Possible ‘Deceptive Acts’ by PROs AllTrack & Pro Music Rights

A Sony Music-Udio settlement appears unlikely for 2025: In keeping with early evidence that the companies would continue litigating, a previously scheduled status conference has officially been axed. Technically, the major label and the AI music generator started December by asking the court to shelve their planned December 12th conference. In the same letter to the presiding judge, the parties, acknowledging “outstanding disputes,” requested yet another discovery document-production delay (the fifth overall).

Source: More Evidence Points to a Sony Music v. Udio Impasse

The Government of India has released a landmark working paper proposing a new policy framework to regulate the use of copyright-protected works for training Generative AI systems. The draft, prepared by a committee formed by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), examines whether existing copyright laws adequately address challenges posed by AI technologies and recommends a hybrid statutory licensing model to balance innovation needs with creator rights.

Source: DPIIT releases working paper on copyright and AI, proposes hybrid licensing model