Category: Copyright

The differences between trademarks and copyrights can be confusing. Both are similar in the following ways: However, understand that trademarks and copyrights are very different. The most important difference involves what they protect legally. Copyrights protect original works of authorship like books, movies, art, music, games, photographs, etc. Trademarks protect words, logos, designs, marks, and […]

As reported here, a U.S. federal judge in San Francisco has ruled that it is “fair use” under U.S. Copyright laws to use books and other literature to train an AI module, but that storage of the literature in a database is not. The case involves an AI development company called Anthropic. The lawsuit was […]

A “DMCA Takedown Notice” is, among other things, a claim that you have, in some way, committed copyright infringement. Typically, a DMCA Takedown Notice is aimed at alleged copyright infringement on the internet. The “takedown” part of the Notice is a demand that the infringing material be removed from an online platform or website. “DMCA” […]

On May 9, 2025, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report on how copyright laws are likely violated by artificial intelligence (“AI”) modules and training procedures. See here. For the relevant portion of the Report, see here. The Report is considered important because there are currently dozens of pending lawsuits around the country — and […]

The holders of copyrights for newspapers, magazines, books, and other publications are involved in numerous legal battles with owners of AI modules over alleged copyright infringement. The plaintiff copyright owners claim that the AI large language modules have been trained on huge quantities of copyrighted materials without permission and — most importantly — without payment. […]

One of the many ongoing cases involving copyright laws and AI generative modules and programs involves plaintiffs, Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre, GMBH, and West Publishing Corp., against a now-defunct business — Ross Intelligence, Inc. Ross Intelligence is accused of copyright infringement when it attempted to create an AI-driven alternative to one of Reuters’ online products, […]

As we have written here on this blog, artificial intelligence (“AI”) programs and modules are causing turmoil in the area of copyright law. In general, three areas are concerning to copyright holders: The vast amount of pending AI/copyright litigation is focusing on the first two questions and the litigation is now going global. For example, […]

As we have discussed several times on this blog, there are major issues with copyright laws and the use of generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) programs like OpenAI’s chatbot ChatGPT. At least two dozen cases have been filed by various plaintiffs and groups around the United States making various copyright infringement claims against the companies that […]

Copyrights entitle the owners to exclusive use of their original works of authorship. That right means that others cannot use — either whole or in part — the original work. This means that the work cannot be used, copied, displayed, performed, etc., without permission. Just as importantly, no works derivative of the original can be […]

For copyright purposes, songs have three distinct components: lyrics, music, and performances. Each component carries its own copyright, and each is to be registered separately with the U.S. Copyright Office. One person can own the copyrights to all three components either because one person created the unique artistic works embodied in the lyrics, music, and […]