After two years of litigation over Texas House Bill 900, a federal judge has granted summary judgment and ordered a permanent injunction to block the mandatory book ratings law. In his October 21 decision, Judge Alan D. Albright of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin division, wrote that HB 900 “compels speech, is void for vagueness, and is an unconstitutional prior restraint.”
Source: Federal Judge Rules Texas Book Ratings Law Unconstitutional
Large online services such as Google and X should pay copyright fees when they display extracts from newspaper articles, says a Swiss parliamentary committee. However, the House of Representatives Committee for Transport and Telecommunications (KVF-N) wants to refer the corresponding bill back to the government and is calling for AI specific regulation. The new ancillary copyright for media and media professionals will therefore probably have to be dealt with once again by the national government.
Source: Swiss lawmakers back media copyright fees for digital giants
It turns out Spotify isn’t happy about facing the Mechanical Licensing Collective’s revived bundling lawsuit. Now, the DSP has fired back against the amended complaint, which is allegedly “unsupportable by the facts” and “as baseless as the one that this court already rejected.”
Source: Spotify Fires Back Against the MLC’s Amended Bundling Lawsuit
In an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Attorney-General Michelle Rowland said the Labor Party government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would not move forward on a proposal to give tech companies an exemption to copyright laws for text and data mining (TDM). Instead, Rowland suggested the government would be looking to establish a licensing system for copyrighted content used in training AI.
Source: Australia rejects proposal that would have exempted AI training from copyright laws
Th
e Cox v. Sony Music amicus briefs flurry isn’t letting up
ahead of the high-stakes Cox v. Sony Music Supreme Court arguments, and former members of Congress, SoundExchange, and many others are weighing in. And the way they see things, adopting Cox’s “unduly narrow standard for contributory infringement would violate a half century of case law and sound policy that is critical to maintaining the economic viability and artistic integrity of the artist and music community.”
Source: Ex-Lawmakers & Many Others Submit Cox v. Sony Amicus Briefs
Italian news publishers are calling for an investigation into Google’s AI Overviews, arguing that the search engine’s AI-generated summaries feature is a “traffic killer” that threatens their survival. FIEG, the Italian federation of newspaper publishers, said it has submitted a formal complaint to Agcom, Italy’s communications watchdog. Similar complaints have been filed in other EU countries.
Source: Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews
Hollywood’s relationship with Washington is at a crossroads, and its stars are turning to K Street A-listers for cover. The dizzying pace of new developments coming out of Washington right now, combined with the deeply personal stakes of issues like generative AI and the potential censorship of administration critics, are fueling a heightened interest in deploying influence peddlers to make their stand with the Trump administration and Congress.
Source: Hollywood turns to K Street as AI threatens their livelihoods
According to a court filing, US District Judge Eumi Lee last week (October 8) denied a motion by Universal Music Publishing Group, Concord Music and ABKCO Music to amend their 2023 complaint. Bloomberg Law reported, citing a hearing in San Jose, that Judge Lee found the amendment to be inappropriate because the music publishers failed to investigate the piracy allegations based on Anthropic’s downloading of works.
Source: Piracy claims can’t be added to music publishers’ copyright case against Anthropic, says Judge
Denmark wants to be at the forefront of a legal shift, both nationally and across the European Union. It began in June with the proposed amendments to its Copyright Act, which would grant individuals copyright over their own likenesses. This move challenges traditional legal frameworks, aiming to empower individuals against the misuse of their digital identities, particularly in the context of deepfakes.
Source: Denmark Leads EU Push to Copyright Faces in Fight Against Deepfakes | TechPolicy.Press
As artificial intelligence reshapes the creative economy, Hollywood and Bollywood are aligning like never before. Hollywood’s MPA and the Producers Guild of India are lobbying an Indian government panel for stricter copyright protections to stop AI firms from using films and shows for training models. They’re pushing for a licensing regime over blanket AI exemptions.
Source: Hollywood, Bollywood unite to push India for stronger copyright laws against AI use