+++ Universal Sues Anthropic Over Unlicensed, AI-Generated Music Lyrics
+++ Bad Bunny, J Balvin Face Copyright Lawsuit Over “Fish Market” Drum Pattern
+++ Costco Sued Over Sharing Consumer Data With Facebook Through Meta Pixel Tracking
+++ Book Author Beats Copyright Infringement Platform; Setting Concerning Precedent
+++ Google Attempts To Dismiss Lawsuit Over Scraping User Data To Train Its BARD AI
Universal Sues Anthropic Over Unlicensed, AI-Generated Music Lyrics
Record label Universal Music Group and other music publishers have filed a lawsuit against AI company Anthropic for distributing copyrighted lyrics through its AI model Claude 2. The complaint claims that Claude 2 can generate lyrics almost identical to popular songs without proper licensing, including songs by Katy Perry, Gloria Gaynor, and the Rolling Stones. The complaint also alleges that Anthropic used copyrighted lyrics to train its AI models. The music publishers argue that while sharing lyrics online is common, many platforms pay to license them, while Anthropic omits critical copyright information. Universal Music Group accuses Anthropic of copyright infringement and emphasizes the need to protect the rights of creators in the context of generative AI.
Read the full report on Axios.
Read the full report on ArsTechnica.
Read the case Universal Music Group et alia v. Anthropic PBC, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, No. 3:23-cv-01092
Bad Bunny, J Balvin Face Copyright Lawsuit Over “Fish Market” Drum Pattern
Influential reggaeton artists Bad Bunny and J Balvin face copyright infringement claims for illegally copying or sampling an instrumental percussion track called “Fish Market,” created by Jamaican producers Steeely & Clevie in 1989. The lawsuit alleges that the distinctive drum pattern from “Fish Market” has been used by reggaeton artists without proper licensing and has become the foundation of the reggaeton genre. The artists’ defense argument is about the scope of the lawsuit. It is unclear about what works the plaintiffs own and whether a rhythm like “Fish Market” is entitled to protection under U.S. copyright law. The judge expressed concerns about the impact of copyright protection on creative activity in music, specifically the reggaeton genre.
Read the full report on Rolling Stone.
Read the case Cleveland Browne/ Estate of Wycliffe Johnson et al v. Benito Martínez Ocasio (aka Bad Bunny) and José Álvaro Osorio Balvin (aka J Balvin) et alia, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:21-cv-02840-AB-AFM
Costco Sued Over Sharing Consumer Data With Facebook Through Meta Pixel Tracking
A lawsuit filed against Costco alleges that the company shared users’ private communications and health information with Meta (Facebook’s parent company) without their consent. The lawsuit claims that Costco used Meta Pixel, which allows companies to track website visitor activity, in the healthcare section of its website. Users’ personal and health information was made accessible to Meta through this tracking pixel. The lawsuit alleges that using tracking services like Pixel violates privacy. It further alleges that Meta could monetize the information by selling ads to insurance companies looking to market to tracked customers.
Read the full report in The Seattle Times.
Read the case Castillo, Knowles, Rodriguez, Throlson v. Costco Wholesale Corporation, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, No. 2:23-cv-01548
Book Author Beats Copyright Infringement Platform; Setting Concerning Precedent
Self-published author Russel Greer successfully sued Kiwi Farms, a website known for cyberattacks, for copyright infringement of his book “Why I Sued Taylor Swift and How I Became Falsely Known as Frivolous, Litigious and Crazy”. Greer’s book was copied and distributed on Kiwi Farms without his permission. Greer sent a DMCA takedown notice, but Kiwi Farms didn’t comply and posted the notice. Greer sued Kiwi Farms for contributory copyright infringement. The lower court saw Greer’s claims to be unsubstantiated, but after appeal, the court found Kiwi Farms had direct copyright infringement, knowledge of it, and materially contributed to it.
Read the full report on Ars Technica.
Read the full blog post by Eric Goldman.
Read the appellate case Russell Greer v. Joshua Moon & Kiwi Farms, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, No. 21-4128
Google Attempts To Dismiss Lawsuit Over Scraping User Data To Train Its BARD AI
Google is seeking the dismissal of a proposed class action lawsuit in California that alleges the company violated people’s privacy and property rights by scraping data for training AI systems. Google argues that using public data is essential for training generative AI systems and that the lawsuit would be detrimental to the development of AI. The lawsuit was filed by eight unnamed individuals who claim Google misused content from social media and its platforms for AI training. Google’s general counsel called the lawsuit “baseless” and stated that US law allows the use of public information for beneficial purposes. Google also contended that it followed fair use copyright law in using certain content for AI training.
Read the full report on Reuters.
Read the case J.L. v. Alphabet Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-03440.
Read the motion to dismiss J.L. v. Alphabet Inc, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-03440-AMO.
More Headlines
- AI: A.I. May Not Get a Chance to Kill Us if This Kills It First (by Slate)
- AI: Religious authors allege tech companies used their books to train AI without permission (by The Hill)
- AI: Rising AI Use Paired With Layoffs Invites Age Bias Litigation (by Bloomberg Law)
- Antitrust: Amazon Offered to Settle California Antitrust Suit in 2022 (by Bloomberg)
- CDA230: Big Tech’s Favorite Legal Shield Takes a Hit (by The Hollywood Reporter)
- Crypto: Cryptocurrency firms sued over ‘$1bn investor fraud’ by New York state (by Guardian)
- Cybersecurity: Who’s Afraid of Products Liability? Cybersecurity and the Defect Model (by Lawfare)
- Data Privacy: The new EU-US data agreement is facing familiar privacy challenges (by The Hill)
- Data Privacy: Meta shareholder lawsuit over user privacy revived by appeals court (by Reuters)
- Data Privacy: US senator asks 23andMe for details after reported data for sale online (by Reuters)
- Net Neutrality: FCC moves ahead with Title II net neutrality rules in 3-2 party-line vote (by Ars Technica)
- Social Media: Elon Musk’s X fined $380K over “serious” child safety concerns, watchdog says (by Ars Technica)
- Social Media: TikTok’s Trials and Tribulations Mount (by Tech Policy Press)
- Social Media: Is ‘Xexit’ nigh? Elon Musk denies talking about pulling X from the EU, but he may not have a choice (by Fortune)
In Other News (or publications you should read)
- Richard Allen’s regulate.tech blog: How to regulate the internet without breaking it
- Benjamin Wittes, Robert Chesney, Jack Goldsmith’s lawfare: Hard national security choices
- Julie Zerbo’s the fashion law (TFL)
- Justin Hendrix’ tech policy press: technology and democracy
- Eugene Volokh: The Volokh Conspiracy
- Eric Goldman’s Technology & Marketing Law Blog
This post originated from my publication Codifying Chaos.