Policy

Spotify wins dismissal of lawsuit claiming it allowed ‘billions’ of fraudulent Drake streams

A US federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action that accused Spotify of allowing billions of bot-generated fake streams to inflate the play counts of Drake and other artists. Judge Josephine Staton, of the US District Court for the Central District of California, granted Spotify‘s motion to dismiss on Monday (June 22). The case was brought by Eric Dwayne Collins, the rapper known as RBX, who claimed Spotify‘s failure to curb “mass-scale fraudulent streaming” had stripped royalties from other rights holders.

Source: Spotify wins dismissal of lawsuit claiming it allowed ‘billions’ of fraudulent Drake streams

Amended Complaint Filed in Taylor Swift Trademark Case

The amended complaint names four defendants: Swift; her rights-management company, TAS Rights Management; UMG Recordings; and UMG‘s merchandise arm, Bravado International Group Merchandising Services. It assigns each a separate role, stating that Swift selected, approved, and promoted the designation, that TAS owns and licenses it, that UMG distributes the recordings and related goods, and that Bravado designs, manufactures, and sells the merchandise.

Source: Amended Complaint Filed in Taylor Swift Trademark Case

The EU’s AI Transparency Code of Practice, Explained

In June, the European Commission published the final version of the Code of Practice on Transparency of AI-Generated Content (Code). Its release nearly completes the largest part of the Commission’s broader effort to develop supporting documents aimed at facilitating compliance with the transparency obligations under Article 50 of the AI Act before those obligations take effect. The Code was developed by independent experts in a multi-stakeholder process coordinated by the AI Office.

Source: The EU’s AI Transparency Code of Practice, Explained

New Lawsuit Accuses Spotify of ‘Undisclosed Filtering Practices’ to Boost Majors Over Indies

Mark Kratter, who appears to release music as part of a namesake band, submitted the concise complaint to the Stamford Superior Court. Off the bat, the action reads like a recap of well-established facts concerning Spotify’s far-from-ideal royalty realities. However, the suit, alleging violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and more, doesn’t solely retread already-covered angles.

Source: New Lawsuit Accuses Spotify of ‘Undisclosed Filtering Practices’ to Boost Majors Over Indies

UK news industry backs law to stop deceptive AI scraping

A proposed UK law is being drafted to stop companies deploying AI bots from using deceptive tactics to scrape websites. The Automated Online Software (Access and Transparency) Bill is unlikely to become law, unless it secures backing from the Government, but it has the support of publishers and could well help shape other legislation. The move follows New York state passing the Stealth Crawler Preservation Act.

Source: UK news industry backs law to stop deceptive AI scraping

Japan passes copyright reform giving performers royalties when recordings play in public

The country’s parliament enacted a revised Copyright Act on Wednesday (June 17), introducing what the government calls the record performance and communication right. Until now, only songwriters, composers, and music publishers were paid when commercially released music was played as background music in Japanese venues. The performers and the labels behind those recordings received nothing for the public plays, at home or overseas.

Source: Japan passes copyright reform giving performers royalties when recordings play in public

Majors and BMG ask US Supreme Court to overturn copyright termination ruling

The major music companies and BMG have asked the US Supreme Court to overturn a ruling that lets songwriters reclaim the worldwide rights to their songs under American law. In a petition filed on June 11, the rightsholders warned that the decision would unleash “chaos” on the industry if left to stand, and asked the justices to reverse a January ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Source: Majors and BMG ask US Supreme Court to overturn copyright termination ruling 

A landmark bill targeting AI deepfakes faces a US Senate Judiciary Committee vote on June 18

In the bill, a digital replica is described as “a newly created, computer-generated, highly realistic electronic representation that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of an individual.” It covers fully synthetic tracks and real recordings whose fundamental character has been materially altered, but exempts parody, commentary, news and authorized sampling.

Source: A landmark bill targeting AI deepfakes faces a US Senate Judiciary Committee vote on June 18

Publishers Sue WeLib for Copyright Infringement

Fresh off of last month’s victory against pirate web site Anna’s Archive, 13 publishers across all segments of the industry have allied to sue yet another pirate site, WeLib, for copyright infringement. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges that the operators of WeLib “ copied the source code and most of the contents of” Anna’s Archive.”

Source: Publishers Sue WeLib for Copyright Infringement

Publishers to bill AI firms for unwanted scraping– and take them to court if they don’t pay

Some 31 UK websites, backed by the Movement for an Open Web (MOW), have added new “Search-Only Contracts” (SOC) to their website terms and conditions which prohibit the copying and repurposing of content by LLMs such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The terms seek to beef up existing robots.txt notices on websites, which are currently widely ignored by generative AI companies.

Source: Publishers to bill AI firms for unwanted scraping– and take them to court if they don’t pay

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