New York Times and Other Publishers Ask Court to Penalize OpenAI

The New York Times, The New York Daily News and 15 other media organizations said in a federal court filing on Thursday that OpenAI was withholding evidence that could play a key role in high-profile lawsuits the companies filed against the artificial intelligence start-up. With their filing, the publishers called for legal sanctions against OpenAI, accusing the company of violating court rules and acting in bad faith during the litigation’s fact discovery phase.

Source: New York Times and Other Publishers Ask Court to Penalize OpenAI

AI Copyright Showdown: Can Hollywood Challenge AI While Using It?

The battle between Hollywood and generative artificial intelligence (AI) took an important procedural turn this month in one of the most closely watched AI copyright cases pending in the United States. While some headlines suggested that Disney and Universal were broadly ordered to disclose their own internal AI use, the actual discovery ruling is more nuanced. The court permitted only limited discovery into AI-related issues tied to market harm, while rejecting most of Midjourney’s broader requests regarding the studios’ internal AI development and use.

Source: AI Copyright Showdown: Can Hollywood Challenge AI While Using It?

Exceleration Music acquires catalog of Japan’s Ryuichi Sakamoto

Exceleration Music and Japanese rights company NexTone have acquired the recording and publishing catalog of Ryuichi Sakamoto, purchased directly from the late composer’s estate. Sakamoto, who died in 2023 at the age of 71, co-founded the electronic trio Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. He became the first Japanese composer to win an Academy Award, a Grammy and a Golden Globe, all for his score to the 1987 film The Last Emperor.

Source: Exceleration Music acquires catalog of Japan’s Ryuichi Sakamoto

Phonorecords V Settlement Proposal Emerges

The majors and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), along with the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), the Music Artists Coalition, and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), just recently informed the Copyright Royalty Board of their settlement. And according to their letter, the agreement is straightforward enough: The current Phono IV rates, also extending to ringtones, “should not be amended except for continuing inflation adjustments

Source: Phonorecords V Settlement Proposal Emerges

Judge denies Sony Music bid to add over 30,000 recordings to Udio lawsuit

A New York federal judge has denied Sony Music Entertainment‘s request to add 30,442 sound recordings to its copyright infringement lawsuit against AI music platform Udio. The ruling from Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, keeps the case at the 333 works that remain in the case. Sony filed the motion on May 22 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, saying it had identified the additional recordings after gaining access to Udio‘s training data in discovery.

Source: Judge denies Sony Music bid to add over 30,000 recordings to Udio lawsuit

Schatz introduces AI-generated content transparency bill

US Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaiʻi introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at increasing transparency around artificial intelligence-generated content, requiring clear labels when people are viewing AI-made material or interacting with an AI chatbot. The AI Labeling Act comes amid growing concern in Hawaiʻi and nationally about the effects of unlabeled AI content, including reports that AI platforms are being used to create deep fake photos and generate scam calls using an AI-generated voice of a loved one.

Source: Schatz introduces AI-generated content transparency bill

Spotify slashes streams of hit song after suspicious activity on prediction market Kalshi

Spotify has removed more than 500,000 registered streams from Malcolm Todd‘s Earrings, after the song’s rise to No. 1 on the platform’s daily US chart was tied to bets placed on the prediction market Kalshi. Kalshi is a US prediction market, regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, on which users stake real money on future events – including which song will be the most-streamed on Spotify in the US in a given month.

Source: Spotify slashes streams of hit song after suspicious activity on prediction market Kalshi

Tilly Norwood to Lead New Movie ‘Misaligned,’ Marking Feature Debut for AI ‘Actor’

Tilly Norwood, the AI “actor” who sparked a frenzy of anger in Hollywood and across the wider industry in late 2025, is set to front her first feature film. “Misaligned,” announced by Particle 6, the AI-focussed studio behind Norwood, is described as a comedy-drama telling a “coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos.” Set inside the so-called “Tillyverse,” a surreal digital world located somewhere up in the Cloud, the film will follow Tilly, an AI being with no real body, no childhood and no lived experience of her own … only access to everyone else’s.

Source: Tilly Norwood to Lead New Movie ‘Misaligned,’ Marking Feature Debut for AI ‘Actor’

Cloudflare’s new policy pushes AI companies to pay for publishers’ content

Cloudflare has just issued the AI industry a new deadline to separate the web crawlers used for traditional search purposes, like Google Search, from those used for AI agents and training. Starting on September 15, 2026, Cloudflare’s default settings will block “mixed-use” crawlers from any pages that host ads, the company announced on Wednesday. That means that the crawlers that blend search, agent use, and training will be blocked from crawling these sites by default, unless the site owner adjusts the settings otherwise. 

Source: Cloudflare’s new policy pushes AI companies to pay for publishers’ content

US senators revive bill to require AI-generated audio, video and images to carry labels

A bipartisan group of US senators has reintroduced legislation that would require AI-generated audio, video and images to carry disclosures identifying them as artificially generated. The AI Labeling Act of 2026 was introduced on Thursday (June 25) by Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), John Curtis (R-UT) and Mark Warner (D-VA). Its backers include SAG-AFTRA, the Songwriters Guild of America, Music Creators North America and the Society of Composers and Lyricists.

Source: US senators revive bill to require AI-generated audio, video and images to carry labels

Get the latest RightsTech news and analysis delivered directly in your inbox every week
We respect your privacy.