Copyright & Social Media
Communications Law
Multiple Canadian News Media Sues OpenAI over Copyright Infringement
Several Canadian news media holdings are suing American company OpenAI, alleging that OpenAI scraped large quantities of information from Canadian sources and used that data to train, among other things, ChatGPT. This, according to the plaintiffs, was done without authorization. The plaintiffs seek both an injunction against further data scraping, as well as an unspecified […]
Copyright Protection in the “Vibe” of Social Media Content?
A Texas court will soon have to decide whether the “vibes” of a social media creator – in this case, the “clean girl” or “beige home” aesthetic – are copyrightable. Can the use of a similar aesthetic (and not the copying of a single photo or video) even constitute copyright infringement? As we have seen, […]
Supreme Court Seeks US Views in $1 Billion Music Copyright Case
I came across some interesting articles about a large upcoming music copyright case and how it relates to the issue of ISPs and internet providers being liable for their infringing customers. The Supreme Court of the United States has asked the federal government their thoughts about large music companies (Sony, Warner and Universal) suing an […]
“Webtoons” and Generative A.I. in South Korea – Is Artistic Style Copyrightable?
I came across an interesting situation unfolding in South Korea regarding the development of image generating A.I. for web comics (commonly known as “webtoons” in Korea). As a preface, I would like to highlight that I do not know much about webtoons nor about industry all that well. I tried my best translating Korean to […]
Sweden™?
Hi everyone, I recently came across an interesting Forbes article about Sweden’s efforts to trademark its name, making it the first country in the world to apply to do so. As the article notes, it’s unclear whether this application is a marketing move or an initiative by Visit Sweden (the country’s tourism board) “to protect […]
OpenAI defeats news outlets’ copyright lawsuit over AI training, for now
I came across this interesting article that neatly ties into what the class has covered on Copyright in the last few classes. I find the New York district court has ruled in an unfortunate way, as it seems that AI-learning algorithms can seemingly circumvent traditional copyright protections. It seems that at least in the state […]
Podcast: Interview with Canadian Entertainment Lawyer and drummer of “One Bad Son”: Kurt Dahl the “Lawyer-Drummer”
Kurt Dahl the “Lawyer/Drummer”