Posts Tagged: "copyright"

Rapper Future Defeats Copyright Lawsuit Over ‘When I Think About It’

Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the rapper and singer, Future. A Virigina-based rapper, Gutta, accused the rap star of copying his song “When U Think About It” when Future released “When I Think About It” on a 2018 mixtape. The district court judge ruled that none of the elements brought forward by Gutta were protectable under U.S. copyright law. The Virginia rapper argued that the two songs shared both subject matter and similar phrases.

Indie Filmmakers Urge Senate IP Subcommittee to Take Caution in Considering Federal Right of Publicity

The Film Independent and the International Documentary Association (IDA) sent a letter to the  Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Tuesday, asking the Subcommittee to ensure that any federal right of publicity it may be considering as an answer to problems raised by generative AI artificial intelligence (AI) include an express exemption for creative works. The letter, penned by the law firm Donaldson Callif Perez, came in response to the Subcommittee hearing held on July 12, 2023, during which witnesses floated the idea of creating a federal right of publicity or an anti-impersonation right as a solution to concerns that generative AI could mimic artistic styles.

A Tale of Triumph or a Tale of Caution? Dungeons & Dragons’ OGL and Its Effects on Intellectual Property

In 2000, Wizards of the Coast (“Wizards”), the creators of Dungeons & Dragons, faced a red pill or blue pill scenario. On the one hand, Wizards could continue to build its Dungeons & Dragons game, while carefully preserving its intellectual property rights. On the other hand, Wizards could risk or even waive its intellectual property rights by allowing third parties, especially the players, to use the Dungeons & Dragons’ intellectual property for their own creations with few limitations, allowing its players to help expand the D&D franchise. Wizards’ chose the second option – to limit its claims over its intellectual property and allow third parties to create their own custom D&D content. A Dungeons & Dragons empire was born. Twenty-three years later, we examine Wizards’ choice and its impact. In early January of this year, the gaming industry was outraged over a leaked document published by pop culture news outlet io9. The document was a draft of the most recent version of Wizards’ Open Game License, or OGL.

Recapping the Recently Completed Supreme Court Term: IP Decisions, Denials and Deferrals

The recently-concluded term of the U.S. Supreme Court featured four intellectual property decisions: one patent case, two trademark cases, and one copyright case. Three of the four opinions were unanimous, citing fundamental and time-honored precedents for support. The only dissent involved a copyright dispute centering on Andy Warhol’s use of a third-party photograph of Prince in his work. That case resulted in a highly charged debate between Justices Sotomayor and Kagan as to whether Warhol’s copying constituted transformative fair use.

Accelerated Innovation: In Less Than a Year, We’ve Seen a Decade’s Worth of AI and IP Developments

The past year has provided decades’ worth of developments across law and policy in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. If 2022 was the breakthrough year for accessible AI, then 2023 can so far be deemed as the first year of likely many more to come in the era of an AI inquisition. “After years of somewhat academic discourse,” reflects Dr. Ryan Abbott, “AI and copyright law have finally burst into the public consciousness—from contributing to the writer’s strike to a wave of high-profile cases alleging copyright infringement from machine learning to global public hearings on the protectability of AI-generated works.” Both the U.S. Copyright Office (USCO) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are in active litigation over the eligibility of generative AI outputs for statutory protection. Additionally, both offices have held numerous webinars and listening sessions and conducted other methods of collecting feedback from the public as they work through policy considerations surrounding AI.