Connecting the Unraveling the Threads (Issue #35) 🧵 AI lawsuit rundown, Hollywood strikes, FTC’s power trip, and so much more!

Franklin Graves

3 years ago

Hollywood Strike

How should influencers and creators be working during the strikes? SAG-AFTRA released more details via an influencer FAQ update. Don’t miss the reports published by Variety and Tubefilter covering the update.

Also, attorney Simon Pulman breaks down the actor’s strike in this clip from Fox 5 New York.

The AI Lawsuit Explosion

The last few weeks have seen a TON of lawsuits flying around the generative AI space… let’s recap:

Andersen v. Stability AI Ltd.

Andersen v. Stability AI Ltd., 3:23-cv-00201, (N.D. Cal.), filed on January 13, 2023. Access the docket on CourtListener.

Reuters reports that at a July 19 hearing, U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick indicated he was inclined to dismiss the lawsuit because the artists failed to state a claim, and it seemed “implausible” their works were involved in the training of billions of images.

Silverman v. OpenAI

Silverman v. OpenAI, Inc., 4:23-cv-03416, (N.D. Cal.), filed on July 7, 2023. Access the docket on CourtListener.

Christopher Golden, an American author, Richard Kadrey, an American novelist, and Sarah Silverman, an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer, are the named plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed against OpenAI. Notably, no other generative AI service providers are named in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are represented by the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, which is also representing numerous other plaintiffs in other lawsuits.

So far, it is just the complaint filed and there hasn’t been any other action on the docket aside from docket setting procedural items. However, see below on the Tremblay lawsuit and the request for consolidation.

“Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement” by Wes Davis via The Verge
“Sarah Silverman sues Meta, OpenAI for copyright infringement” by Jack Queen via Reuters

Tremblay v. OpenAI

Tremblay v. OPENAI, INC., 3:23-cv-03223, (N.D. Cal.), filed on June 28, 2023. Access the docket on CourtListener.

Mona Awad, a Canadian novelist, and Paul Tremblay, an American author, are the named plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed against OpenAI. The plaintiffs are represented by the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, which is also representing numerous other plaintiffs in other generative AI-focused lawsuits.

So far, the complaint has been filed followed by a request to consolidate the cases (procedurally a motion to relate) by Saveri on July 19. The other cases listed for consolidation are the Silverman case (see above).

Kadrey v. Meta Platforms, Inc.

Kadrey v. Meta Platforms, Inc., 3:23-cv-03417, (N.D. Cal.), filed on July 7, 2023. Access the docket on CourtListener.

Christopher Golden, Richard Kadrey, and Sarah Silverman are the named plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit filed against Meta. The plaintiffs are represented by the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, which is also representing numerous other plaintiffs in other generative AI-focused lawsuits.

So far, it is just the complaint filed and there hasn’t been any other action on the docket aside from docket setting procedural items. However, on July 13, the judge ordered ADR.

“Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement” by Wes Davis via The Verge
“Sarah Silverman sues Meta, OpenAI for copyright infringement” by Jack Queen via Reuters

P.M. v. OpenAI LP and Microsoft Corp.

P.M. v. OpenAI LP, 3:23-cv-03199, (N.D. Cal.), filed on June 28, 2023. Access the docket on CourtListener.

Unnamed plaintiffs filed a complaint against OpenAI and Microsoft focused largely on state privacy law violations, plus some federal claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The complaint was filed by the Clarkson Law Firm. The complaint also includes unnamed “does” as plaintiffs, which means we could see other AI service providers added at a later date.

So far, it is just the complaint filed and there hasn’t been any other action on the docket aside from docket setting procedural items.

“Class Action Suit Against OpenAI Underscores Valuable Property Right Consumers Hold in Their Personal Data” by Steven Brachmann via IPWatchdog, Inc

J.L. v. Alphabet Inc.

J.L. v. Alphabet Inc., 3:23-cv-03440, (N.D. Cal.), filed on July 11, 2023. Access the docket on CourtListener.

Unnamed plaintiffs filed a complaint against Alphabet, Google, and Google Deepmind, focused on CA privacy law violations, plus copyright, DMCA and related property claims. This complaint was also filed by the Clarkson Law Firm.

It sounds like we have a new fair use battle brewing in the generative AI arena! Isaiah Poritz reporting for Bloomberg Law covered the lawsuit in this article, but also shared a response from Google’s GC, Halimah DeLaine Prado:

“We’ve been clear for years that we use data from public sources — like information published to the open web and public datasets– to train the AI models behind services like Google Translate, responsibly and in line with our AI Principles. American law supports using public information to create new beneficial uses, and we look forward to refuting these baseless claims.”

This response from her seems to allude to the company using a fair use defense against the copyright infringement claims.

The references to “public information” + “new beneficial uses” sounds an awful lot like a copyright fair use defense is in the works.

Grab the popcorn! 🍿 We’re just getting started, folks.

Need more AI litigation?

I recommend reading “How Can AI Models Legally Obtain Training Data?–Doe 1 v. GitHub” by Kieran McCarthy published over on Eric Goldman‘s blog.

Licensing AI, Undercutting Fair Use Defense. Are we on a path toward legally licensed training materials to train AI tools? OpenAI is working on content licenses with local news publishers. Meanwhile, Google is reportedly working on licenses for news content to power AI, too. This is notably a move Adobe has been working on licenses for a while. All of the licensing efforts potentially undercut the arguments in support of a fair use defense to the copying land use of pre-existing works as training materials for AI systems.

I stopped by the LexLine podcast with my co-author Elizabeth Rothman to chat about IP and AI. We had a chance to discuss our recent article published in IP Watchdog.

The FTC is Coming… But Do They Care Anymore?

(Hint: You should definitely still care!)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been through a series of ups and downs recently. There are a lot of opinions floating around…

“The regulatory parade of follies includes the agency’s debatable effort to block Altria’s minority equity investment in Juul, a struggling e-cigarette maker; its puzzling suit to block Facebook’s acquisition of Within, a metaverse fitness app; and now a federal court’s rejection of its challenge to Microsoft’s acquisition of the video-game publisher Activision (which the FTC immediately appealed),” notes Jonathan Barnett the Torrey H. Webb Professor of Law at the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law in an opinion piece published by The Hill.

Let’s recap what all we’ve seen from the agency in the last few weeks:

Updated Disclosure Guidelines. At the end of June, the FTC announced three important developments just announced by the FTC: final revisions to the Endorsement Guides, a proposed new Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, and updates to a key staff guidance publication for businesses, endorsers, and members of the advertising industry.

They highlight six final changes to the revised Endorsement Guidelines that they say “merit your attention”:

Articulating a new principle regarding not procuring, suppressing, organizing, upvoting, downvoting, or editing consumer reviews in ways that likely distort what consumers really think of a product.
Addressing incentivized reviews, reviews by employees, and fake negative reviews by competitors.
Adding a definition of “clear and conspicuous” and warning that a platform’s built-in disclosure tool might not be adequate.
Updating the definition of “endorsements” to clarify that it can include fake reviews, virtual influencers, and social media tags.
Providing a clearer explanation of the potential liability that advertisers, endorsers, and intermediaries face for violating the law.
Emphasizing special concerns with child-directed advertising.

None of the new announcements should be all that shocking to brands, influencers, or platforms. This isn’t really too new and isn’t a fundamental change from what’s already been required. This particular part of the guidance (that hashtag ad or the placements must be in certain places) has been around for years. I actually wrote about it for Tubefilter in 2017. I also wrote about the original release of these guidelines back in 2019, upon which this updated version builds.

Check out attorney Robert Freund‘s Tweet thread covering the recent announcement.

OpenAI Investigation. Also, the FTC has launched an investigation into OpenAI. The Washington Post broke the story about the FTC investigating OpenAI over a data leak and the inaccuracies in the output of ChatGPT. See the document.

“FTC’s Khan Pressed by House GOP on Noncompete Proposal, Meta and Twitter Actions” by Eileen McDermott via IPWatchdog

On July 13, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing “Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission” to “examine mismanagement of the FTC and its disregard for ethics and congressional oversight under Chair Lina Khan. The hearing will also examine the Commission’s record of enforcement actions and politicized rulemakings.” Watch the replay.

The FTC and DOJ released a draft version of their Merger Guidelines. As The Verge’s Makena Kelly notes, “The proposal doesn’t explicitly name tech companies like Amazon, Meta, or Google, but many of the rules implicate parts of their merger and business strategies.”

Social Media Platform Lawsuits

And they just keep coming… more lawsuits filed by local school districts against Meta (including Instagram, Facebook), Snap Inc., ByteDance and TikTok, and Alphabet Inc. / Google/YouTube. All of the platforms are named as defendants in the lawsuits. Meta just happens to be listed first.

These lawsuits are about the mental health impacts of social media on youth. I wrote a deep dive on the original lawsuit and also discussed the article on a recent podcast episode (see further down in the newsletter!)

The complaints that I’ve reviewed (and I haven’t downloaded and looked at all 150+ that I think have been filed so far) are the same, stemming from the same firm. Here’s another one from an Arizona school district that I previously shared on LinkedIn.

I talked with Jess Miers a couple of weeks back about the likelihood of them being consolidated and litigated as one. And she was right! It’s happened. The lawsuits have all been consolidated into In re: Social Media Adolescent Addiction/Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (MDL No. 3047), 22-MD-3047-YGR, N.D., California.

You can track it here and also on CourtListener.

On June 27, Meta, TikTok, and YouTube filed a joint motion to dismiss, and on June 30, Meta filed a reply in support of the joint motion to dismiss.

Copyright Office Guidance on Generative AI Registration

Did you miss last month’s U.S. Copyright Office event on generative AI and copyright registrations? I got you covered with 3 takeaways in my latest article for IPWatchdog!

In the article, I recap 3 key takeaways:

Applying “Feist” to Works
When in Doubt, Disclose (but not too much)
Remember March 16th 🫣

“There’s a need for guidance and insight when it comes to the use of AI and ML technologies, including generative AI technologies, as evidenced by the more than 150 audience questions received during the live stream. The Office also noted that 1,500 people attended the virtual meeting.”

You can also check out the official recap from Nora Scheland that was published by the USCO, “#ICYMI: The Copyright Office Hears from Stakeholders on Important Issues with AI and Copyright”.

Australia Aims to Combat Misinformation on Social Media

Australia has a newly proposed law that aims to combat misinformation on social media. 🗣️ They want feedback!

The Australian government is seeking feedback on an exposure draft of the Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023.

The proposed law aims to hold digital platform services to account and create transparency around their efforts in responding to misinformation and disinformation in Australia.

The government is trying to understand whether or not the proposed bill achieves a balance across key issues:

freedom of expression
the complexity of content exemptions
the scope of the private message exemption
the size of the penalties and any other issues.

The bill comes from a January 2023 announcement by the Minister for Communications that the Australian Government would introduce new laws to provide the independent regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), with new powers.

The proposed bill would amend the following Australian laws:

👉 Broadcasting Services Act of 1992

👉 Australian Communications and Media Authorities Act 2005

👉 Broadcasting Services Act 1992

👉 Online Safety Act 2021

👉 Telecommunications Act 1997

Here’s the 64-page document. There’s also a 29-page Guidance Note that breaks it down. And, a 9-page Fact Sheet. Public feedback is open through August 6th.

TikTok

Commercial use? ✅ Sound Recordings? ✅ Publishing? ✅ It sounds like a strong deal for creators and end users of TikTok, while also benefiting music creators at Warner Music Group! TikTok and WMG have signed a “multi-year, multi-product deal licenses the repertoire of Warner Recorded Music and Warner Chappell Music to TikTok, TikTok Music, CapCut, and TikTok’s Commercial Music Library.” Read the official press release from WMG. Read the coverage by Music Business Worldwide (MBW), which also unpacks what additional easter eggs are hidden in the press release for future partnership announcements.

On July 6, TikTok launched a premium-only TikTok Music streaming service in Indonesia and Brazil with licensed music from all three major labels. TikTok Music has since expanded to Australia, Mexico, and Singapore.

“Meet Ripple: TikTok Parent’s New AI-Powered Music-Making App That Can Turn a Hummed Melody Into a Song” by Murray Stassen via Music Business Worldwide

TikTok announced the launch of Elevate, a music discovery program with a first class of all-star rising artists from across the globe: CHINCHILLA, Sam Barber, Omar Courtz, Isabel La Rosa, Kaliii and LU KALA. Read more from TechCrunch.

“TikTok and 5 content creators ask federal judge to block Montana from banning app” by Amy Beth Hanson via The Associated Press

The hearing date for the request is set for October 21, according to Digital Music News. They also break down additional key dates. “Federal Judge Sets Hearing Date for TikTok Preliminary Injunction Motions As Montana Ban Looms” via Digital Music News.

Younger audiences are, shockingly, more accepting of TikTok, according to a Pew Research Center survey. “People who don’t use TikTok think it’s a national security threat” by John Fingas via Engadget

TikTok announces it will establish a youth council in hopes of building a better platform for teens Julie de Bailliencourt, TikTok’s global head of product policy, told NBC News that the council is still in its developmental phase.

I’m so glad I’m not the only one 😅 “TikTok is Confusing by Design” by Sara Morrison via Vox

Google & YouTube

An appeal has been filed to continue an attempted class action lawsuit against Google and YouTube arguing the TV, Music, & Premium registration process violated Oregon subscription laws. Read my full recap.

The Wall Street Journal reported that “about 80% of Google’s video-ad placements on third-party sites violated promised standards, new research shows; Google disputes claims”. Read Jim Louderback’s commentary in this LinkedIn post, too. See also, “Did Google mislead advertisers about TrueView skippable in-stream ads for the past three years?” by Adalytics

“Google’s $5.5 Million Pact Over Online Tracking Falters Again” by Andrea Vittorio via Bloomberg Law

“Tax prep companies shared private taxpayer data with Google and Meta for years, congressional probe finds” by Brian Fung via CNN

“Google Calls For Public Discussion On AI Use Of Web Content” by Matt G. Southern via Search Engine Journal. Read the official Google Blog post by VP, Trust Danielle Romain, “A principled approach to evolving choice and control for web content”.

“YouTube’s decision to allow election misinformation is under fire from Congress” by James Hale via Tubefilter

“YouTube Updates Its Impersonation Policy to Combat Rising Re-Use of Creator Content” by Andrew Hutchinson via Social Media Today, LLC

Twitter

X Company, which operates Twitter, sent a cease-and-desist (C&D) letter to Meta threatening to sue following the launch of Threads. Learn more about what was inside and whether it mattered.

The drama started on July 1 when Twitter implemented a new limit on the number of tweets users can read during a day. Days later, Meta launched Threads, a competitor platform to Twitter.

Twitter Business published an update explaining the new rate limit.

“Twitter quietly backtracks on requiring users to log in to see tweets” by Kris Holt via Engadget

Twitter is now paying creators, but it also tweaked its policy for creators to expand access, increase rate limits, according to TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez.

Twitter has also sued the law firm Watchtell for “unjust enrichment” related to the acquisition by Musk.

Twitter announced a “new, improved version of TweetDeck” while moving the app behind a paywall of the Twitter Blue subscription.

“Twitter Rise in Harmful Content a Concern to Advertisers” by Aisha Countsand Eari Nakano via Bloomberg

“Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino Disputes Bloomberg Report That Harmful Content Is Spooking Advertisers, Insists That ‘99.99% Of Tweet Impressions Are Healthy’” Dade Hayes via Deadline

“Twitter stalling hundreds of ex-workers’ legal cases: lawsuit” by Dan Wiessnervia Reuters

Crypto and Web3

My virtual friends Jessica Neer McDonald and Brian Frye were quoted in this article by Michael Bodley for Blockworks exploring intellectual property and Yuga Labs and NFTs. Read “Yuga Labs’ intensifying IP takedowns spur CryptoPunk backlash”

A crypto token is deemed to be a security if sold to institutional investors, but is not a security if sold to the general public. A split win for the Ripple v SEC case.

Artificial Intelligence

“It’s time to regulate AI in influencer content, industry insiders say. Figuring out how may be difficult.” by Marta Biino via Insider. Read on Apple News.

On July 12, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a hearing “Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property – Part II: Copyright”. Watch the replay.Microsoft released its “Governing AI: A Blueprint for the Future” document.

Copyright fair use for training AI models? Yes, according to the Library Copyright Alliance (consisting of the American Library Alliance and the Association of Research Libraries) relying on the HathiTrust and Google cases, but also Feist to bolster an argument that facts aren’t copyrightable. Download a copy of their letter.

Creator Coalition Pens Appeal to EU’s TDM Exception; Asserts That It Violates International Treaties: In July, a creator coalition penned an appeal letter to the European Union and United States government, to amend or provide guidance on EU’s current text-and-data-mining (TDM) exception under Articles 3 and 4 of the Copyright Directive to redress violations with the Berne Convention and WIPO Copyright treaties. The coalition includes the American Society for Collective Rights Licensing (ASCRL), Artists Rights Society (ARS), American Photographic Artists (APA), National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), Graphic Artists Guild (GAG), Authors Guild, Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), Songwriters Guild of America (SGA), Music Creators of North America (MCNA), and the Concept Art Association (CAA). The statement argues that the Berne Convention three-step test is violated because copying protected works for AI development interferes with the normal exploitation of the works and that the opt-out mechanism in the current exception is practically ineffective and impossible and is a formality prohibited by the Berne Convention. The group also urges the United States government to “use all available means to bring the European Union into compliance with the Berne Convention, as incorporated in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), in connection with the application of Articles 3 and 4 to generative AI.” [H/T to Copyright Alliance] See also The National Writers Union announcement about the letter and a parallel letter penned by European creator groups regarding concerns about the EU AI Act and TDM exceptions.

“Contractual Control over Information Goods after ML Genius v. Google” by Prof. Guy Rub, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law via Eric Goldman

The Authors Guild’s Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders has blown up! Thousands of authors have signed onto the letter, as NPR reports.

“Senate IP Subcommittee Mulls Federal Right of Publicity at AI and Copyright Hearing” by Steven Brachmann via IPWatchdog

Other News

Canva gets music. Variety was the first to announce that design software company Canva has licensed catalogs from major label Warner Music Group and indie labels under Merlin are now available within its design tool. However, I was left with more questions than answers after reviewing the announcements.

The exploitation of college athletes is happening more often than not, often driven by egregiously one-sided contracts with lawyers or agents and companies locking in long deals over IP rights. However, transparency around deals being signed remains an important way to showcase the importance of these newly released rights for exploitation. Check out full coverage of the issue in these two pieces:

“College Athletes Lured by NIL Deals, Exploited by Fine Print” by Nicole Sadek and Ronnie Greene via Bloomberg Law
“NIL Deals for College Athletes Should Be Transparent” by Adam Mintervia The Washington Post
Also in Bloomberg Law, Carla Varriale-Barker (she/her), attorney shareholder at Segal McCambridge, highlights some key contract and deal negotiation tactics for all athletes, even if not a megastar.

Emoji Law. A friendly reminder that emoji may be copyrighted.

Data Transfers to the U.S. Are Back. On July 3rd, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo issued a statement regarding the European Union-U.S. Data Privacy Framework:

“Today, the United States has fulfilled its commitments for implementing the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) announced by President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in March 2022. This represents the culmination of months of significant collaboration between the United States and the EU and reflects our shared commitment to facilitating data flows between our respective jurisdictions while protecting individual rights and personal data.

Read the full statement. On July 10, the European Commission adopted a new adequacy decision for safe and trusted EU-US data flows. The U.S. Departments of Justice and Commerce and the European Commission now welcome a finalized EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (DPF).

Biden Admin Can’t Be Social. On July 4th, federal Judge Terry A. Doughty granted an order blocking several government agencies from meeting or otherwise communicating with social media companies about content moderation practices. However, on July 14, a Fifth Circuit Panel lifted the order.

“Spotify had 44.4 million U.S. subscribers in February, Apple Music had 32.6 million, According to New Data” by Murray Stassen via Music Business Worldwide (MBW)

“Soundcloud Tackles What It Calls the ‘Zero Plays Problem‘ with AI-Powered ‘First Fans’ Feature” by Daniel Tencer via Music Business Worldwide

“Revisiting Bananas, Duct Tape, Walls, & Copyright–Morford v. Cattelan” by Eric Goldman

Terry Hart published a deep dive on the Supreme Court’s decision in Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith where he writes the Court “provides a critical recalibration of the doctrine, restoring the importance of “justification” to transformative use”.

FYPM Releases 2023 Creator Pricing Benchmark Report (H/T Lia Haberman!)

“Macron accused of authoritarianism after threat to cut off social media” by Kim Willsher via The Guardian

“Reddit Asks Court to Protect Users Right to Anonymous Speech in Piracy Case” by Ernesto Van Der Sar via Torrent Freak

Bloomberg Law’s Titus Wu reports that California is pushing back the enforcement date for the California Age-Appropriate Design Act (CADA) to a July 2024.

Jess Miers also broke the news that CA legislators are also pushing back the roll out of the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA) by turning it into a two-year bill. “California bill requiring Big Tech to pay for news placed on hold until 2024“ by Jaimie Ding via Los Angeles Times

NetChoice filed a request for an injunction against the Arkansas Social Media Safety Act in an attempt to keep the law from going into effect after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed it into law, which is set to go into effect in September. The case is NetChoice, LLC v. Griffin, 5:23-cv-05105, (W.D. Ark.). Access the full docket on CourtListener.

“Anjali Sud is leaving Vimeo” to head to Tubi, as reported by James Hale via TubefilterCan streaming services be forced to carry local TV stations similar to cable and satellite providers? Axios’ Sara Fischer and Maria Curi explore the question in detail.

This is an interesting read! WordPress VIP continues growing like crazy. Axios’s Kara Fischer and Kerry Flynn report that Vox Media will be dropping its own CMS in favor of WordPress VIP.

“Colleen Ballinger cancels tour amid ‘grooming’ and racism allegations” by Samantha C. via The Washington Post. Read on Apple News. You can also catch up via this Rolling Stone piece by CT Jones – “Fans Built Her an Internet Empire. Now They’re Tearing It Down”. Read on Apple News.

“How a Texas High Jumper Used His TikTok Savvy to Score Nearly $1 Million in Deals” by Sean Gregory via Time. Read on Apple News. Read on Yahoo! News.

“Shein Named in Copyright, Racketeering Lawsuit Over Alleged Infringement Scheme” via The Fashion Law

“How Shein’s influencer trip to a Chinese factory backfired” by Amanda Silberling via TechCrunch

Hotmart – “The company teaching influencers how to get rich without going viral” by Daniela Dib via Rest of World

“Decentralized social networking app Damus to be removed from Apple‘s App Store, will appeal decision” by Aisha Malik via TechCrunch

Revenge and deepfake porn laws to be toughened in the UK following amendments to the Online Safety Bill. The BBC News’s Shiona McCallum has more in this article.

Microsoft is rolling out a new font — Aptos. Read the official blog postannouncement on Medium.

Can you protect short phrases? That’s exactly the topic of discussion on this episode of The Briefing Podcast: The Protectability of Short Phrases.

Prime Energy is different than Prime Hydration. Keep that in mind… “The FDA is being asked to look into viral energy drink that has the caffeine of 6 Coke cans”

“Peloton paid the music industry more than TikTok last year, says Goldman Sachs” by Tim Ingham via Music Business Worldwide

According to a recent patent filing, Pinterest “is seeking to patent a method for “generating personalized content” based on a user’s email data,” as reported by Patent Drop.

Shockingly (not) the Terms of Service for social media platforms don’t extend license grants between users for off-platform use, court confirms.

Smosh has to defend against text message lawsuit, judge says… The lawsuit was previously dismissed, but the court now says Kristen Hall has standing to bring a class action against the company for improperly sending business text messages in violation of anti-spam and DNC registry. “Online Video Maker Smosh Must Face Revived Text Spam Lawsuit” by Skye Witley via Bloomberg Law

Generative AI Week in Atlanta, GA

I’m so excited to be joining Scott Sholder on stage to present at the first state-side Generative AI Week event in Atlanta, GA! I’ve heard rumors that it’s a not-to-be-missed event after a successful run in London earlier this year. Plus, if May Habib says it’s stellar, then it’s going to be worth it!

The programming and speaker lineup is also super impressive! This is the only event dedicated to providing practical steps for implementing & scaling Generative AI efforts across the enterprise, with 50+ speakers from some of the most forward-thinking companies sharing use cases, insights, and challenges on their Generative AI adoption.

As a speaker, I can share the 10% off code “SPEAKER10” that you can use to register. Use this link to have it automatically apply, or just to check things out.

Are you going? Let us know in the comments and maybe we can organize a meet-up!Shout out to Mhairi Macbride for the great work organizing everything!

Beyond the Code (Podcast)

Let’s dive deeper! 🙋 Who owns the output of an AI tool? 🤖 Is social media bad for our health? 😷

Thank you so much to Yitzy Hammer📍EthCC Paris for inviting me as the next guest on his fantastic podcast, Beyond the Code. In this episode, we covered two main topics:

1️⃣ the lawsuits being filed against Meta (including Instagram, Facebook), Snap Inc., ByteDance and TikTok, and Alphabet Inc./Google/YouTube, about the mental health impacts of social media on youth; and

2️⃣ Everyone is talking about AI. Everyone is *using* AI, so the big question is: who does all this AI-generated output belong to? Can you copyright it? Is it infringing someone else’s copyright if you use it? We deep-dived into these very relevant questions.

What is Beyond the Code? It’s a podcast featuring interviews with legal professionals, academics, and entrepreneurs on the legal, regulatory, and ethical issues surrounding various emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, big data, and more.

Listen to Ep. 6 now!

Generative AI and IP Webinar

How is copyright law equipped (or not) to deal with the intellectual property issues posed by generative AI?

On this episode of the Tech Policy Grind, we endeavor to get to the core of that question with an excerpted conversation from the second event in the Internet Law & Policy Foundry’s Policy Hackathon series (this year on artificial intelligence).

Foundry Fellow Ekene Chuks-Okeke sat down with Juyoun Han, Franklin Graves, and Elena Gurevich for a roundtable discussion on how the copyright law ecosystem is addressing generative AI, pending litigation, and how artists can contribute to the conversation.

Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, or here. And if you’re interested in watching the whole webinar, you can do so here on YouTube.

In-House Counsel and Social Media

Have you been wanting to discuss social media and IP? You know I have been! 😄 Join me at #ACCAM23 in October!I’m speaking on part 1 of a two-part panel series that explores intellectual property considerations within the context of social media… just for in-house counsel!

Learn more about the Association of Corporate Counsel‘s Annual Meeting, October 22-25, 2023, in San Antonio, TX, by visiting: https://am.acc.com

It’s going to be fun! 🥳

I watch the WHAM! documentary on Netflix and… wow! It’s such a nostalgia-filled, bittersweet exploration of friendship, the music industry, and society and culture during the ’80s and ’90s. I highly recommend it!

Earlier this month, Elton John played the final stop on his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour. It grossed over $900 million, the highest in Billboard Boxscore history! You can catch the concert film featuring performances from the final North American stops of the tour over on Disney+ (for those in the U.S.).

Looking back on these two music legends, this week’s music video is a live clip from 1985 where George Michael leads a performance of Elton John’s famous song “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” during Live Aid.

Watch on YouTube or Apple Music.

Affiliate Links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I have noted above where links to products on Amazon may earn me a commission if you make a purchase. Thanks for supporting my work!

Not Legal Advice. This newsletter is published solely for educational and entertainment value. Nothing in this newsletter should be considered legal advice. If you need legal assistance or have specific questions, you should consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction. I am not your attorney. Do not share any information in the comments you should keep confidential.

Personal Opinions. The opinions and thoughts shared in this newsletter are my own, and not those of my employer or any of the third parties mentioned or linked to in this newsletter. No affiliation or endorsement is implied or otherwise intended with third parties that are referenced or linked.

Enjoying this? Share with someone you think might be interested! If this was forwarded to you, jump over to LinkedIn and subscribe for free.