Friday’s Endnotes – 06/09/23

The Supreme Court Case of Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith: What, if Anything, Does it Mean to Artificial Intelligence? — “The most obvious impact will be on the image cases brought by artists and Getty images, respectively, against Stability AI. These are cases where the AI developers allegedly (1) used works of artists and photographers without consent and (2) enable the creation of works that compete directly with the infringed works. Leaving aside procedural issues and focusing on the copyright merits, attorneys in these cases are likely making happy noises.”

Dua Lipa’s Copyright Accusers Drop ‘Levitating’ Infringement Lawsuit — “A Florida reggae band has decided to drop a copyright case accusing Dua Lipa of copying her smash hit song ‘Levitating’ from their earlier track, two days after a federal judge cast serious doubt on the lawsuit’s allegations.”

Adobe is so confident its Firefly generative AI won’t breach copyright that it’ll cover your legal bills — “Adobe Firefly, the software giant’s AI-powered image generation and expansion tool, is being rolled out to businesses today. At its flagship Adobe Summit event, the company is unveiling an expansion of Firefly for enterprise users that will include ‘full indemnification for the content created through these features,’ says Claude Alexandre, VP of digital media at Adobe.”

Museum Wins Lawsuit Over Photo of Michelangelo’s David — “An Italian museum has won a lawsuit against a magazine publisher which used a photo of Michelangelo’s sculpture David without permission — despite the 500-year-old artwork belonging in the public domain. In August 2020, GQ Italia superimposed a photograph of 16th-century statue David’s face onto an image of model Pietro Boselli for its cover.”

Opinion: Making Google and Meta pay for news they profit from — “The California Assembly recently voted in favor of journalism by supporting the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act (Assembly Bill 886), which would require social media companies to pay a ‘usage fee’ to publishers for the news content that the platforms benefit from. The publishers, in turn, would have to spend at least 70% of the fees they receive on journalists or support staff. The money would come out of the platforms’ advertising revenue and the amount would be determined by arbitration.”