Verizon is looking to pause its own copyright battle with the major record labels until the Supreme Court issues a related ruling. By now, many are familiar with the long-running showdown between the majors (which scored a massive verdict over Cox subscribers’ alleged repeat infringement) and Cox. Last month, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case, and the resulting precedent could have a far-reaching impact on music-space infringement litigation.
Source: Verizon Seeks Copyright Suit Stay Pending Supreme Court Ruling
Copyright law—a byzantine world in which millions ride on whether ‘Ice Ice Baby’ sounds too much like ‘Under Pressure’—rarely has much to say about geopolitics. But two pivotal AI copyright court decisions last week, the first in a slew of prominent lawsuits, will have enormous implications for the U.S. competition with China for technological primacy.
A group of independent music companies and trade associations called on the European Union to launch an in-depth investigation into Universal Music Group’s acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, saying the deal threatens competition if antitrust officials let it go ahead. Universal entered into a definitive agreement in December for its Virgin Music Group label to buy Downtown for $775 million in cash.
An important aspect of the Anthropic case is that it focuses on the inputs of AI systems as opposed to the outputs. In other words, it answers the question, “Is copying a whole bunch of books a violation, independent of what you’re doing with them?” with “No.”
