Christiane Schuman Campbell, vice chair of Duane Morris’ Intellectual Property Practice Group and team lead of the Fashion/Retail/Consumer Branded Products industry group, is featured on the CGTN America segment, “Global Business: The Fight Against Fake Luxury.”
Northern District of California Decides AI Training Is Fair Use, but Pirating Books May Still Be Infringing
Two groundbreaking decisions from the Northern District of California—Kadrey v. Meta Platforms, Inc. and Bartz v. Anthropic PBC—shed light on how courts are approaching the use of copyrighted materials in training large language models (LLMs). Both cases involved authors alleging copyright infringement based on the use of their books to train generative AI models, and both courts held that use of the copyrighted materials to train the AI models was transformative. The court in Anthropic held, however, that copying pirated books constitutes copyright infringement and the transformative nature of the use did not rescue such infringement. Conversely, the Meta court held that copying from pirate sites to train AI is fair use, but only because the plaintiffs failed to submit evidence of market harm, which the court believed to be the most relevant factor. As such, while use of copyrighted works to train AI may be fair use, copying works without permission carries the risk of infringement. Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris website.
Emerging Technologies In Harmony: AI, Crypto, and Policy Innovation
This article was originally published by the California Lawyers Association. This article has been reprinted with permission.
The nation is well positioned to further develop artificial intelligence (AI) and promote its application, while the government renews its interest in cryptocurrency (crypto) as a significant part of digital assets. Both AI application and crypto hold huge potential to advance collective prosperity, yet they are rooted in complex, disruptive technologies that pose significant challenges for policymakers. Traditionally, the two fields have followed separate trajectories, but their convergence is increasingly evident.
Webinar: Key Federal and State AI Legal Developments Impacting Employment Decisions, Privacy Rights, Vendor Management and IP Practices
Duane Morris will present a Zoom Event, Key Federal and State AI Legal Developments Impacting Employment Decisions, Privacy Rights, Vendor Management and IP Practices, on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern | 12:00 p.m. Pacific.
How an AI Case Affects Animal Law
On March 18. 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed a district court ruling that a work created with artificial intelligence (AI) using a machine cannot be registered in the name of the machine itself because the Copyright Act requires that a copyright owner be a human being. Thaler v. Perlmutter, No. 23-5233 (D.C. Cir. Mar. 18, 2025).
In fact, the D.C. Circuit made a specific connection to animal law by citing the decision in Naruto v. Slater, 888 F.3d 418 (9th Cir. 2018), in which the Ninth Circuit held that a monkey cannot be an “author” under the Copyright Act. And, like Thaler, animal rights groups have tried to base their arguments on dictionary definitions. Read more on the Animal Law Developments Blog.
Webinar: Understanding Data Licensing in the World of AI
Duane Morris’ Technology Transactions, Licensing and Commercial Contracts Group presents a webinar, Understanding Data Licensing in the World of AI, to be held on Wednesday, December 18, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Eastern.
As we head into 2025, more and more of our clients are negotiating data licensing agreements and asking for assistance in understanding a company’s rights regarding data. This webinar will review intellectual property rights with regard to data, the frequent use and terms of creative commons licenses with datasets, and important and commonly negotiated terms in data licensing agreements, with our attorneys providing thoughts on these issues and how they relate to AI. Learn more.
FTC Cracks Down on Allegedly Deceptive Artificial Intelligence Schemes
As part of its ongoing enforcement efforts against allegedly deceptive and misleading uses of artificial intelligence, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosed five new enforcement actions on September 25, 2024, against companies across various industries that either allegedly made fraudulent claims about their AI resources or offered AI services that could be used in misleading or deceptive ways. Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris website.
AI Art Appeal’s Procedural Flaws Put Broader Ruling in Doubt
Duane Morris partner Agatha Liu is quoted in the Bloomberg Law article, “AI Art Appeal’s Procedural Flaws Put Broader Ruling in Doubt.”
An appeals court panel’s focus on procedural issues in a case involving efforts to copyright AI-generated work left attorneys concerned the judges may sidestep larger questions about how copyright law regards the emerging technology. […]
“The point of copyright protection is it should reward creativity. It should be associated with a human being, not a machine,” said Liu. “But there’s merit in claiming the creator of the machine being an author.”
Read the full article on the Bloomberg Law website.
The AI Update | September 18, 2024
#HelloWorld. It’s been a long summer hiatus. Please bear with us as we play our way back into shape. In this issue, we recap the summer highlights of AI legal and regulatory developments. Of course, the EU AI Act, but not just the EU AI Act. California continues to enact headline-grabbing AI legislation, content owners continue to ink deals with AI model developers, and what would a month in the federal courts be without another AI lawsuit or two. Let’s stay smart together. (Subscribe to the mailing list to receive future issues.)
Continue reading “The AI Update | September 18, 2024”Illinois Employment Legislation Regulates Employer Use of AI
In the span of 10 days in August 2024, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law a series of significant employment legislation, paving the way for a new employment landscape beginning in 2025 and 2026. The new legislation includes adding new requirements for employers utilizing artificial intelligence in their decision-making processes, and imposing liability under the Illinois Human Rights Act if those AI systems create a discriminatory effect.
Read the full Alert on the Duane Morris website.