Judge John Koeltl held a lengthy hearing Monday afternoon on motions for summary judgment from both sides in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by four major publishers against the Internet Archive for “willful mass copyright infringement.” With extensive papers already filed with the court since the case was filed in June 2020, it seemed likely that the hearing held by telephone will be all the judge requires in order to reach a final ruling on the case. The plaintiffs’ case is pretty straight-forward and aligns with how the copyright laws are written and have been interpreted across many cases, in […]
Legal
Government Underscores that Copyright Is for Human-Created Works, and AI-Generated Material Is Not Protectable
After finding last month that AI-generated artwork in a graphic novel did not qualify for copyright protection, the US Copyright Office has now published a more extensive paper, “Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence.” The key point is their reiteration of the view that, “It is well-established that copyright can protect only material that is the product of human creativity.” Therefore, anyone applying for a copyright has “a duty to disclose the inclusion of AI-generated content in a work submitted for registration and to provide a brief explanation of the human author’s contributions to the work.” […]
Coalition Aims to Protect Copyright and IP from State Legislatures
As a number of state legislatures work on unconstitutional bills to dictate terms of licensing ebooks to libraries—instead of simply funding their popular libraries to keep up with inflation and citizens’ needs—a coalition has formed to Protect the Creative Economy. Coalition members include the ABA, the AAP, the Authors Guild and the IPBA, plus Copyright Alliance, News Media Alliance and NMPA.
Bernardini Sentencing Documents: “I still wanted to believe I was part of the industry.”
Manuscript thief Filippo Bernardini and his attorney Jennifer Brown both submitted letters in advance of his Federal Court sentencing on April 5, trying to explain Bernardini’s motivation for the thefts. Bernardini writes that stealing manuscripts was an “obsession, a compulsive behavior” related to wanting to work in publishing. His attorney suggests, “His offense can be seen as a form of ‘extreme collecting'”…. He had served as an intern at Andrew Nurnberg Associates in London, but was unable to immediately find a job in the industry afterward. Bernardini faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, plus fines for wire fraud […]
Stephen Elliot Settles Defamation Suit Against Moira Donegan
Stephen Elliot has settled his defamation lawsuit against Moira Donegan, creator of the “Sh–y Media Men” list. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The settlement ends a years-long case, which began in 2018 when Elliot sued Donegan for $1.5 million in New York’s Eastern District for the inclusion of his name and allegations against him on the list, to which 30 other women anonymously contributed. Previously, a judge denied Elliot’s attempts to have the identities of the the other contributors revealed and Google objected to a subpoena to release the names.
Authors Guild Adds AI Training to Model Book Contract
The Authors Guild has added a new clause to its model trade book contract that prohibits publishers from “using or sublicensing books under contract to train artificial intelligence technologies.” The clause is a response to recent concerns raised by authors and publishers regarding digital publishers like Findaway Voices and Bookwire, who have partnered with Apple for machine learning and Google Books for AI-narrated audiobooks, respectively. The AG writes that platforms and publishers have been “adding language to their terms that allows them to data mine books for use in training AI models that will inevitably compete with human-authored works.” The […]