Rights

Meta Approaches Media Companies About AI Content-Licensing Deals

Meta Platforms has held discussions in recent months with a number of media companies, including Axel Springer, Fox Corp. and News Corp, about licensing their articles for use in its artificial-intelligence tools. Meta, parent of Facebook and Instagram, offers a range of AI-powered products, including a variety of chatbots. Its conversations with media companies have focused on licensing news and other content for use across those products, according to people familiar with the matter.

Source: Meta Approaches Media Companies About AI Content-Licensing Deals

Why The Economist isn’t doing AI deals but has launched on Substack

Many publishers have done deals around the use of their content with ChatGPT owner OpenAI. However The Economist has not signed with OpenAI or any of its competitors. Bradley-Jones explained: “I think we see those products as publishing platforms. That’s fundamentally what they’re trying to create. And why would you license your content in any meaningful volume to a competitor platform?”

Source: Why The Economist isn’t doing AI deals but has launched on Substack

Top music body says AI firms guilty of ‘wilful’ copyright theft

AI companies have sucked up the world’s entire music catalogue and are guilty of “wilful, commercial-scale copyright infringement”, a major music industry group told AFP. The ICMP is one of a number of industry bodies spanning the news media and publishing to target the booming artificial intelligence sector over its use of content without paying royalties.

Source: Top music body says AI firms guilty of ‘wilful’ copyright theft

GEMA to cut ‘on-demand music distribution’ commission to 7% 

Germany’s performance rights organization, GEMA, plans to reduce its commission on all “on-demand music distribution” to 7% from 10% by 2027, a move that is expected to increase annual payouts to music creators by more than EUR €6 million (USD $7 million). The PRO will implement the cut in stages, beginning with a reduction to 9% in January 2026 before reaching the target rate the following year.

Source: German collection society GEMA to cut ‘on-demand music distribution’ commission to 7% by 2027; expects move to boost annual payouts by $7m

UK Creators Demand PM Recognize Creators’ Human Rights

Ahead of U.S. President Trump’s visit to the United Kingdom, 70-plus of the UK’s biggest creators and creative organizations have issued an open letter calling on the government to protect the rights of UK copyright holders by upholding international human rights standards. With signatures from heavy-hitters including Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and Elton John, the letter has also been signed by creative organizations like the News Media Association, UK Music, Pan MacMillan, and Getty Images.

Source: UK Creators Demand PM Recognize Creators’ Human Rights

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCU Sue Chinese AI Company MiniMa

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal are taking legal aim at another AI company that they allege is massively ripping off their intellectual property. On Tuesday, the three media companies filed a lawsuit against MiniMax, a Chinese AI company that is reportedly valued at $4 billion, alleging “willful and brazen” copyright infringement.

Source: Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCU Sue Chinese AI Company MiniMax, Alleging It ‘Pirates and Plunders’ Studios’ Copyrighted Works on ‘Massive Scale’

Labels settle copyright lawsuit against Internet Archive 

Major record labels including Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment have reached a confidential settlement with the nonprofit Internet Archive, ending a two-year legal battle over its digitization and streaming of vintage vinyl recordings. The parties filed a joint notice in California federal court on Monday (September 15), requesting that Judge Maxine Chesney pause all case deadlines while they complete the settlement terms.

Source: Labels settle copyright lawsuit against Internet Archive over streaming of vintage vinyl records

Tracy Maddux leads ‘multi-million dollar’ investment round into OpenPlay

Tracy Maddux, former Chief Commercial Officer at Downtown Music Holdings, has led a “multi-million dollar” strategic investment in rights management platform OpenPlay, giving him a board seat. As board member, Maddux brings experience in music technology to OpenPlay, which serves more than 3,500 labels, distributors and publishers across 24 countries.

Source: Tracy Maddux leads ‘multi-million dollar’ investment round into OpenPlay, joins rights management platform’s board

Google is a ‘bad actor’ says People CEO, accusing the company of stealing content

Neil Vogel, CEO of People, Inc. (formerly Dotdash Meredith), a publisher that operates over 40 brands, including People, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Better Homes & Gardens, Real Simple, Southern Living, Allrecipes, and others, said that Google is not playing fair because it uses the same bot to crawl websites to index them for the Google search engine as it does to support its AI features.

Source: Google is a ‘bad actor’ says People CEO, accusing the company of stealing content | TechCrunch

ISPs Rally in Cox Communications v. Sony Supreme Court Battle

Multiple internet providers and related organizations are weighing in on the high-stakes Cox Communications v. Sony Supreme Court battle. Grande Communications and Altice USA just recently submitted briefs of their own, joining the U.S. government, all manner of tech giants, Twitter/X, the ACLU, the EFF, and a variety of others. It probably doesn’t need saying in light of this list or the forum, but there’s quite a lot riding on the decision for the involved parties.

Source: ISPs Rally in Cox Communications v. Sony Supreme Court Battle

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