Music publishers allege Anthropic used BitTorrent to pirate copyrighted lyrics

Publishers including Universal Music Group, Concord and ABKCO sued Anthropic in 2023 for copyright infringement, alleging that its Claude chatbot regurgitated copyrighted lyrics, indicating the company had trained the chatbot on those lyrics without permission. Now the music publishers additionally allege that Anthropic hid the fact that it used BitTorrent to pirate copyrighted lyrics, lawyers for the publishers said in a document filed on Monday (August 11) with the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Source: Music publishers allege Anthropic used BitTorrent to pirate copyrighted lyrics

New AI-Driven Role-Playing Platform Launches With Plans to Gamify Fan Fiction 

New role-playing gaming platform Hidden Door debuted Wednesday with features that allow users to create their own stories within iconic fictional worlds by engaging with AI-driven models made in partnership with creators, authors and IP rights holders. Within these worlds, there are chances to add in genre-bending plot twists, including vampires and pirates, that affect the rules of the worlds.

Source: ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and Vampires: New AI-Driven Role-Playing Platform Launches With Plans to Gamify Fan Fiction Across Books, Movies and TV IP

Kobalt inks direct licensing deal with Spotify in the US

The agreement marks Spotify’s latest direct deal with a prominent music publisher and moves its agreement with Kobalt beyond the traditional CRB model in the US. This means that Kobalt’s direct deal supersedes the audiobook ‘bundling‘ payment structure that, starting in March last year, saw Spotify dramatically cut the rate of mechanical royalties paid to publishers and songwriters in the US.

Source: Kobalt inks direct licensing deal with Spotify in the US

Meta Acquires WaveForms to Boost AI Audio Capabilities

Meta acquires AI audio startup WaveForms to advance emotional voice synthesis and integrate tech into Superintelligence Labs. WaveForms’ main focus is the ‘Speech Turing Test,’ a challenge to create AI-generated speech that is indistinguishable from human voices. The platform incorporates what it calls ‘emotional general intelligence’—software designed to replicate the emotional nuance of human speech within generated speech.

Source: Meta Acquires WaveForms to Boost AI Audio Capabilities

Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues Perplexity for copyright violations

The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper by circulation, has sued the generative AI startup Perplexity for copyright infringement. The lawsuit, filed in Tokyo District Court on August 7, marks the first copyright challenge by a major Japanese news publisher against an AI company. Yomiuri alleges the scraping has been used by Perplexity to reproduce the newspaper’s copyrighted articles in responses to user queries without authorization.

Source: Japan’s largest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, sues AI startup Perplexity for copyright violations

Shira Perlmutter USCO Suit Sets Summary Judgement Schedule

The lawsuit filed by ex-Copyright Office head Shira Perlmutter now has a summary judgement schedule, which will run into November. Both sides just recently filed a proposed schedule for that summary judgement sub-dispute, and the presiding judge signed off on the timetable soon thereafter. Taking a step back for a moment, a reinstatement-minded Perlmutter is technically spearheading two cases: A core complaint challenging her USCO dismissal and an appeal.

Source: Shira Perlmutter USCO Suit Sets Summary Judgement Schedule

Google’s AI Nighthawks painting misses the point of art

Google announced Genie 3, a general purpose world model that can generate interactive environments from text prompts. As demonstrated by research scientist Aleksander Holynski, it’s possible to use famous paintings as reference images. That allows the user to ‘step inside’ the painting and adjust the view. The AI generates additional details outside of the composition of the original painting, allowing it to be viewed from other angles.

Source: Google’s AI Nighthawks painting misses the point of art

Spotify Investigating Playlist Bribery Allegations in Turkey

Spotify is facing serious turmoil in Turkey, including allegations of bribery around playlist placement and mounting regulatory pressure. The controversy escalated after several Turkish artists raised complaints, questioning how playlists were created and alleging that unfair visibility was being granted to certain performers in exchange for bribes.

Source: Spotify Investigating Playlist Bribery Allegations in Turkey

SoundExchange slams judge’s ruling in SiriusXM case as ‘entirely wrong on the law’

Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed SoundExchange‘s $150 million lawsuit against SiriusXM, ruling that Congress has never granted the PRO the authority to file lawsuits on behalf of recording artists and record labels. In response, SoundExchange said in a statement, “SoundExchange firmly believes Judge Buchwald’s interpretation is entirely wrong on the law.”

Source: SoundExchange slams judge’s ruling in SiriusXM case as ‘entirely wrong on the law’

Publishing Giants Escalate War on ‘Shadow Libraries’ With Broad Cloudflare Subpoena 

Major academic publishers, including Elsevier and Springer Nature, are trying to unmask the operators of several shadow libraries including Anna’s Archive, Z-Library and Libgen. They’re also targeting SLUM, a third-party uptime monitor for these unofficial libraries. A DMCA subpoena, issued by a D.C. federal court, requires Cloudflare to hand over identifying user data for possible legal action.

Source: Publishing Giants Escalate War on ‘Shadow Libraries’ With Broad Cloudflare Subpoena * TorrentFreak

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