Rights

Universal, Warner, and Sony ink deals with new music creation/social app, MashApp

A new music application called MashApp that allows users to create real-time “mashups” of popular music tracks officially launched in the US on Tuesday (February 18). The app, initially available on iOS devices, has secured licensing deals with Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and Kobalt Music. This means users can access an extensive catalog of popular hits to mix and match.

Source: Universal, Warner, and Sony ink licensing deals with new music creation/social app, MashApp

What the US’ first major AI copyright ruling might mean for IP law

A U.S. federal judge last week handed down a summary judgment in a case brought by tech conglomerate Thomson Reuters against legal tech firm Ross Intelligence. The judge found that Ross’ use of Reuters’ content to train its AI legal research platform infringed on Reuters’ intellectual property. The outcome could have implications for the more than 39 copyright-related AI lawsuits currently working their way through U.S. courthouses.

Source: What the US’ first major AI copyright ruling might mean for IP law | TechCrunch

Mechanical Licensing Collective Targets Spotify Suit Dismissal

The Mechanical Licensing Collective is asking a federal court to reconsider its dismissal of a lawsuit centering on Spotify’s bundling. The MLC just recently submitted that motion for reconsideration, after a federal judge about two weeks back tossed the relevant complaint with prejudice. As the Mechanical Licensing Collective sees things, the court erred when deeming Spotify Premium a bundle despite the availability of audiobooks before the bundling-classification pivot had been made official.

Source: Mechanical Licensing Collective Targets Spotify Suit Dismissal

The audio listener is too valuable for the music industry to ignore

According to MIDiA’s newest report, “Audio’s entertainment value: Examining audio listeners’ cross-entertainment lives”, podcasts and audiobooks have the potential to provide music rightsholders with one of the highest value audience segments out there. Across the board, data shows audio listeners are more willing than music streamers to engage with digital marketing efforts like pre-saves, add music to their collections, listen to full albums on streaming services, and listen to songs they have Shazamed.

Source: The audio listener is too valuable for the music industry to ignore

Guardian signs licensing deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI

The Guardian has become the latest news publisher to sign a deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI over content licensing. The deal will ensure The Guardian receives compensation for the use of its journalism on ChatGPT and gets properly credited on the platform. Under the deal The Guardian will also be able to use OpenAI technology in-house.

Source: Guardian signs licensing deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI

Hollywood writers say AI is ripping off their work. They want studios to sue

When the Writers Guild of America approved a contract with major studios in 2023, ending a 148-day strike, the union became the first bargaining group to gain significant guardrails around artificial intelligence in Hollywood. But as AI innovation continues to advance, writers say they need more protection from studios. Now, they’re urging entertainment companies to take legal action against AI firms that they allege are using writers’ work to train AI models without their permission.

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Source: Hollywood writers say AI is ripping off their work. They want studios to sue

DeepSeek launch underlines value of news content to AI companies

The release of the new R1 model by China-based AI start-up DeepSeek has a number of important implications for news publishers, cutting across the future economics of AI, the ability of IP holders to protect their rights and the risks that these technologies pose to the broader information ecosystem. DeepSeek’s training data was obtained without authorisation or even transparency; the crawlers it is using are undeclared, third-party or hidden.

Source: DeepSeek launch underlines value of news content to AI companies

AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone

Web publishers have responded to AI with a trifecta of lawsuits, legislation, and computer science. What began with a litany of copyright infringement suits, including one from the New York Times, has turned into a wave of restrictions on use of websites’ data, as well as legislation such as the EU AI Act to protect copyright holders’ ability to opt out of AI training.

Source: AI crawler wars threaten to make the web more closed for everyone

Thomson Reuters wins an early court battle over AI, copyright, and fair use

On Tuesday, US District Court of Delaware judge Stephanos Bibas issued a partial summary judgment in favor of Thomson Reuters in its copyright infringement lawsuit against Ross Intelligence, a legal AI startup. Filed in 2020, it’s one of the first cases that will deal with the legality of AI tools and how they are trained, often using copyrighted data scraped from somewhere else without license or permission.

Source: Thomson Reuters wins an early court battle over AI, copyright, and fair use

AI Agents Are Now Trading IP Rights With Each Other

While artists worldwide have been complaining about AI stealing their work, Story Protocol believes it has come up with a solution. The platform has introduced a system that lets AI agents trade intellectual property rights with each other, turning them into paying customers for tokenized IP rights on the blockchain. If you can’t beat them, join them, as they say.

Source: AI Agents Are Now Trading IP Rights With Each Other—And Earning Crypto for Their Owners – Decrypt

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