Friday’s Endnotes – 01/26/24

Copyright Alliance Applauds Outcomes of Two Groundbreaking Fair Use Cases Involving ‘Appropriation Artist’ Richard Prince — “According to Kupferschmid, ‘The January 25 judgments in the Graham and McNatt copyright infringement cases involving Richard Prince are among the most important fair use decisions in decades. The outcome in both cases is extremely significant and provides us with insights into how last year’s Supreme Court decision in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith will impact future copyright cases involving fair use.'”

George Carlin Estate Sues Makers of AI Comedy Special for Likeness Theft and Copyright Infringement — “The creators of ‘I’m Glad I’m Dead’ say they used AI to scrape hours of Carlin’s comedy specials to create their facsimile. And now in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in a California federal court, Jerold Hamza, executor of Carlin’s estate, break down how this infringes on Carlin’s copyrights and his likeness rights.”

The Sleepy Copyright Office in the Middle of a High-Stakes Clash Over A.I. — “The agency plans to put out three reports this year revealing its position on copyright law in relation to A.I. The reports are set to be hugely consequential, weighing heavily in courts as well as with lawmakers and regulators.”

Don’t Cut, Paste, Copyright: Bonding over Borrowed Words — “UIRC, a property management company overseeing leases for the US General Services Administration, sought copyright protection for two documents it produced related to a bond offering: a private placement memorandum (PPM) and an indenture of trust. UIRC did not create these documents from scratch but instead borrowed most of the language from the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. Nevertheless, UIRC secured copyright registrations by explicitly focusing on the “additional and revised text” it contributed, not the ‘standard legal language.’ While aiding UIRC in transactions utilizing its copyrighted documents, William Blair concurrently assisted a third party in a similar transaction. During that transaction, William Blair used UIRC’s copyrighted PPM and indenture of trust documents. In response, UIRC filed a copyright infringement suit against William Blair.”

Is AI’s Copyright World Flat, or Will AI Flatten the Copyright World? — “Is offshoring the training of AI a credible and efficient response to minimize copyright compliance risks or is offshoring merely a theoretical argument designed to both influence lawmakers and for government relations purposes?”