Policy

CLEAR Act Would Create Notice Requirements for Copyrighted Works in AI Training Data

If enacted as drafted, the bill would establish mandatory reporting requirements for companies developing artificial intelligence (AI) models that are trained using original works that are protected under U.S. copyright law, and would create an additional cause of action for copyright owners alleging that generative AI developers failed to give such notice with respect to their works.

Source: CLEAR Act Would Establish Notice Requirements for Copyrighted Works in AI Training Data

Anna’s Archive Quietly ‘Releases’ Millions of Spotify Tracks, Despite Legal Pushback

Despite being sued by Spotify and several record labels, Anna’s Archive has silently begun releasing the actual music files from its massive Spotify scrape. The shadow library’s backend torrent index now lists dozens of new torrents containing approximately 2.8 million tracks totaling roughly 6 terabytes of audio data. This marks a significant escalation in the already historic standoff with the music industry.

Source: Anna’s Archive Quietly ‘Releases’ Millions of Spotify Tracks, Despite Legal Pushback * TorrentFreak

The Missing Fair Use Argument in the Copyright Battle Over AI Summaries

Two of the lawsuits target Google for antitrust violations, alleging that publishers’ content is effectively compelled for inclusion in AI Overviews as a condition of search visibility. But no court has yet addressed the more fundamental question: even where summaries do resemble protected content, might they still qualify as fair use?

Source: The Missing Fair Use Argument in the Copyright Battle Over AI Summaries

Netflix struggles to defend Warner Bros merger at US Senate hearing

Netflix struggled to reassure skeptical lawmakers that its proposed $82 billion takeover of Warner Bros Discovery would benefit consumers, workers and the broader entertainment industry. During the hearing, senators quizzed Netflix co‑chief executive Ted Sarandos on the fate of theatres if the deal were to be approved, the effects of the merger on subscription prices and on the entertainment workforce.

Source: Netflix struggles to defend Warner Bros merger at US Senate hearing

Ted Sarandos Hedges on Netflix Residual Payments at Senate Hearing: ‘Not a Yes or No’

At a Senate antitrust hearing on Tuesday, Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos declined to give a “yes or no” answer when asked if he would commit to “full residuals” for union workers. “I would like to tell you this is a very complicated answer, because we prepay,” Sarandos said.  Sarandos noted that the major studios are just days away from sitting down with the entertainment unions for bargaining, where this will be an issue.

Source: Ted Sarandos Hedges on Netflix Residual Payments at Senate Hearing: ‘Not a Yes or No’

EU Legislators Call for an End to ‘Coercive Rights Buy-Outs’

On Tuesday, European songwriters and composers, along with representatives of their collective management organizations, came together with key EU policymakers to address the long-standing and growing phenomenon of so-called “coercive buy-out practices” affecting audiovisual composers. Buy-out practices in contracts typically force music authors to give away all or part of their rights in exchange for an often low onetime upfront payment.

Source: EU Legislators Call for an End to ‘Coercive Rights Buy-Outs’

Supreme Court to decide how 1988 videotape privacy law applies to online video

The Supreme Court is taking up a case on whether Paramount violated the 1988 Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by disclosing a user’s viewing history to Facebook. The case, Michael Salazar v. Paramount Global, hinges on the law’s definition of the word “consumer.” Salazar filed a class action against Paramount in 2022, alleging that it “violated the VPPA by disclosing his personally identifiable information to Facebook without consent.”

Source: Supreme Court to decide how 1988 videotape privacy law applies to online video

NVIDIA: Contact With Anna’s Archive Doesn’t Prove Copyright Infringement 

NVIDIA has asked a federal court to dismiss an expanded copyright lawsuit, arguing that authors failed to prove their books were actually used to train AI models. The chip giant says merely contacting Anna’s Archive doesn’t constitute infringement and challenges virtually every new claim in the amended complaint.

Source: NVIDIA: Contact With Anna’s Archive Doesn’t Prove Copyright Infringement * TorrentFreak

Deploying Visual AI is a legal minefield…how to avoid getting hit 

If you generate an image entirely through AI and use it in your marketing, you may have no copyright protection over that asset. A competitor could use it without consequence. If you want legal protection, you need to add a substantial human creative contribution, and you need to document what that contribution was. However, the threshold of how much AI help is not yet precisely defined.

Source: Deploying Visual AI is a legal minefield…how to avoid getting hit – Kaptur

UK media groups should be allowed to opt out of Google AI Overviews, CMA says

Web publishers and news organizations could be given the power to stop Google scraping their content for its AI Overviews, under measures announced by the UK competition watchdog to loosen its grip on online search. Media organizations have experienced a drop in click-through traffic to their websites – and therefore their revenue – since Google started posting AI summaries at the top of search results.

Source: UK media groups should be allowed to opt out of Google AI Overviews, CMA says

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