A coalition of music creator advocacy organizations has filed an amicus brief in Vetter v. Resnik, a copyright case currently before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. The brief urges the Court to affirm that U.S. copyright termination rights apply worldwide—an interpretation that would significantly expand protections for songwriters and music creators in the global marketplace.
Source: Creator Orgs Rally in Support of Copyright Case Vetter v. Resnik
A broad coalition of groups representing European writers, performers, producers and publishers issued a joint statement on Wednesday, warning that Europe’s AI Act is not properly protecting copyrights. In a joint statement, groups, including those representing European actors, writers, journalists, film producers, musicians, translators, and visual artists, took aim at the implementation of the act, which was passed last year and hailed as the world’s first and most far-reaching government regulation of artificial intelligence technology.
Source: European Creators Slam AI Act Implementation, Warn Copyright Protections Are Failing
According to Bloomberg, Google is reportedly preparing to launch a “pilot project initially with about 20 national news outlets,” where the participants would license their content for Google’s AI tools. There isn’t much detail beyond the initial report, but it sounds similar to the strategy that OpenAI has employed. Over the past few years, OpenAI has struck licensing deals with major publishers like Hearst, Condé Nast, Vox Media, The Atlantic, and News Corp.
Source: Google is reportedly pursuing AI licensing deals with news publishers
This technology could enable proper attribution and compensation for original songwriters, composers and rightsholders, Orfium said. The project comes as the Gen AI music and audiovisual content is expected to grow to€64 billion in 2028 from the current €3 billion, according to data from CISAC.
Source: Orfium awarded EU grant to lead research project into copyright detection in AI-generated music
According to a statement released on Tuesday (July 22), Concord is issuing $1.765 billion in bonds via a series of new five-year, seven-year, and ten-year senior notes. The bonds are backed by Concord’s catalog of over 1.3 million music copyrights. The latest bond issuance represents Concord’s fourth securitization offering and is claimed to be “the largest and longest tenured asset-backed term securitization of music rights to date”.
Source: Concord closes $1.76 billion asset-backed securities transaction to ‘fuel continued growth’
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced legislation on Monday that would restrict AI companies from using copyrighted material in their training models without the consent of the individual owner. The AI Accountability and Personal Data Protection Act also would allow individuals to sue companies that uses their personal data or copyrighted works without their “express, prior consent.”
In a major victory for authors, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled July 17 that three writers suing Anthropic for copyright infringement can represent all other authors whose books the AI company allegedly pirated to train its AI model as part of a class action lawsuit. Alsup’s most recent ruling follows an amended complaint from the authors looking to certify classes of copyright owners in a “Pirated Books Class” and in a “Scanned Books Class.
Source: Judge Rules Class Action Suit Against Anthropic Can Proceed
The issue is causing tension in the book community. Librarians complain that publishers charge so much to license e-books that it’s busting library budgets and frustrating efforts to provide equitable access to reading materials. Big publishers and many authors say that e-book library access undermines their already struggling business models. Smaller presses are split.
Source: Libraries Pay More for E-Books. Some States Want to Change That.
Google requests a stay in a copyright infringement case brought by textbook publishers pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Cox v. Sony. A lawsuit filed against Google by several textbook publishers in 2024 accuses the tech giant of not doing enough to prevent piracy, and, in fact, profiting from it. Google saw a win when the publishers’ vicarious liability claim was dismissed, but a claim for contributory infringement is yet to be decided.
Source: Google Pauses Infringement Litigation Amid Supreme Court Look
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