Rights

CNN Sues AI Firm Perplexity, Alleging It Engaged in ‘Massive Copyright Infringement’

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accused Perplexity of scraping more than 17,000 CNN stories, photos, videos and other content and using that to train its products. The complaint is the network’s first legal case against an AI company seeking to protect its copyrights — and is believed to the first litigation in this area by a TV network,

Source: CNN Sues AI Firm Perplexity, Alleging It Engaged in ‘Massive Copyright Infringement’

Franchise IP’s New Frontier: Legal Issues in the Rise of Immersive Entertainment

When unique creative additions are embedded into immersive experiences, it can sometimes be unclear when an experience ceases to be an exhibition and instead constitutes a new derivative audiovisual work. Some may argue that an immersive production should be characterized as a technologically enhanced form of exhibition because, although the format of the exhibition may have changed, the core substance of the audiovisual work remains the same.

Source: Franchise IP’s New Frontier: Legal Issues in the Rise of Immersive Entertainment

Library Orgs Urge Big Five to Address Digital Pricing

The organizations urge publishers to negotiate usage-based e-book lending models as well as perpetual-use options. “Our organizations, representing the vast majority of public libraries in the U.S. and Canada, call on the Big Five publishers, as well as platform providers, to come to the table to work with libraries to identify and implement sustainable solutions, no matter the format,” the signatories state.

Source: Library Orgs Urge Big Five to Address Digital Pricing

Sony Music moves to add more than 30,000 copyrighted recordings to its lawsuit against Udio

Sony Music Entertainment has asked a federal court for permission to expand its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music generator Udio, seeking to add over 30,000 copyrighted sound recordings to its complaint. The motion, filed on Friday (May 22) in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, says Sony identified the additional works after gaining access to Udio‘s training data during the discovery process.

Source: Sony Music moves to add more than 30,000 copyrighted recordings to its lawsuit against Udio

YouTube Is Crawling with Pirated Audiobooks Made Using A.I.

A.I. has made it easier to quickly create audiobooks using synthetic narration. Because most antipiracy technology is designed to catch identical files, not altered ones, many of them avoid detection by programs used to identify copyright infringement. A.I. versions of highly anticipated titles often appear on YouTube hours after they are released.

Source: YouTube Is Crawling with Pirated Audiobooks Made Using A.I.

The ‘No Fakes’ Act is Back; Can a 2026 Version Pass in Congress?

A revised version of the NO FAKES Act (Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act), a bill originally introduced in 2024 and designed to regulate the use of AI to replicate a person’s likeness and voice, was introduced this week hoping to gain momentum. The original version enjoyed bipartisan support from a laundry list of lawmakers, studios, and even tech giants like Amazon, YouTube, and OpenAI.

Source: The ‘No Fakes’ Act is Back; Can a 2026 Version Pass in Congress?

Stability AI Releases ‘Stable Audio 3.0,’ Trained on Authorized Sources

Stability AI has announced the launch of Stable Audio 3.0, a family of four new AI music models that the company promises are trained entirely on licensed data. These new models can generate tracks of more than six minutes in length. Three of the four models are “open-weight,” meaning they are free to download and build upon.

Source: Stability AI Releases ‘Stable Audio 3.0,’ Trained on Authorized Sources

Spotify and Universal Music strike deal allowing fan-made AI covers and remixes

Spotify on Thursday announced it has partnered with Universal Music Group (UMG) to allow fans to use generative AI technology to create covers and remixes of their favorite songs. The tool will launch as a paid add-on available only to Spotify’s Premium subscribers and will offer a revenue share with participating artists for the AI-generated music based on their work.

Source: Spotify and Universal Music strike deal allowing fan-made AI covers and remixes

Shamrock Capital Launches Fourth Content Strategy Fund Since 2015

The Los Angeles-based investment firm focused on media, entertainment and communications has had no trouble lining up takers for its fourth fund for content acquisitions since 2015. That’s the year Shamrock first took aim at acquiring and managing content-related cash flows for discrete rightsholders. Shamrock disclosed Tuesday that its plan to raise $700 million for Shamrock Capital Content Fund IV, L.P. was oversubscribed to the tune of $813 million.

Source: Shamrock Capital Launches Fourth Content Strategy Fund Since 2015

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