Tag: copyright infringement

Five major book publishers and author Scott Turow have sued Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the company of illegally using millions of copyrighted works to train its Llama generative‑AI model. The complaint alleges that Meta reproduced and distributed the material without permission or compensation, and that Zuckerberg personally authorized the infringement. Meta has faced multiple lawsuits over its AI training practices, but the company maintains that such use falls under fair‑use doctrine. Leggi di più

Suno, the AI‑driven music service that markets a $24‑a‑month Premier Plan for creating original tracks, is letting users slip copyrighted material past its detection system. By uploading a song, slowing it with free software, or adding brief bursts of white noise, creators can generate AI‑styled imitations of hits like Beyoncé’s “Freedom” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” The resulting covers, which sound eerily close to the originals, can be exported and placed on streaming services, raising fresh concerns about royalty avoidance and artist protection. Leggi di più

Metadata company Gracenote, owned by Nielsen, has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI alleging unauthorized and unpaid use of its entertainment metadata and the framework that connects that information. The complaint asserts that OpenAI ignored Gracenote’s attempts to negotiate a licensing agreement and instead copied the data to develop commercially valuable AI products. Gracenote highlights that most AI lawsuits have focused on training data, but this case adds alleged infringement of the dataset’s structure. The company recently partnered with other tech firms on AI projects, underscoring the growing legal tension between data owners and AI developers. Leggi di più

Hollywood studios and unions have sharply criticized ByteDance's new AI video model, Seedance 2.0, accusing it of massive copyright violations. The tool, released through ByteDance's Jianying and soon CapCut apps, lets users generate short videos from text prompts, but has already produced content featuring copyrighted characters and likenesses of real actors. Industry groups, including the Motion Picture Association and SAG‑AFTRA, have called for an immediate halt to the service, labeling it an attack on creators and a breach of U.S. copyright law. Leggi di più

A coalition of writers, led by Theranos whistleblower and author John Carreyrou, has filed a lawsuit against six major artificial‑intelligence companies—Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, Meta, xAI and Perplexity. The suit alleges the firms trained large language models on pirated copies of the authors’ books, violating copyright. The complaint references an earlier class‑action case in which a judge ruled that while using pirated material to train models may be lawful, the act of pirating the books itself is illegal. Authors claim the recent $1.5 billion Anthropic settlement, which offers modest payouts to eligible writers, favors the AI companies and fails to hold them accountable. Leggi di più

Apple is confronting a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the company used copyrighted works without permission to train its artificial intelligence models. Two neuroscience professors from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University claim Apple accessed their registered works through "shadow libraries" and web‑crawling tools. The filing follows a prior suit by a different pair of authors and comes amid a wave of similar actions against other tech firms, including OpenAI. The case highlights growing legal challenges surrounding AI training data and copyright law. Leggi di più

OpenAI and Anthropic are confronting high‑profile lawsuits alleging copyright infringement and wrongful death, while also exploring insurance solutions to manage emerging legal risks. OpenAI, which has raised nearly $60 billion, is evaluating structures such as captives but has not yet established one. Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion settlement in a class‑action suit over the use of pirated books. Both companies face the prospect of substantial statutory damages and are weighing the financial implications of potential future claims. Leggi di più

Major record labels, led by the Recording Industry Association of America, have escalated a lawsuit against AI music generator Suno, accusing the company of illegally ripping songs from YouTube to train its generative models. The amended complaint, filed on September 19th, alleges Suno used code to download copyrighted tracks from Universal, Sony and Warner, bypassing YouTube’s rolling cipher encryption and violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Suno, which has not disclosed its training data, claims fair‑use protection, but the plaintiffs seek statutory damages of $2,500 per act of circumvention and up to $150,000 per infringed work. Leggi di più

Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Universal have filed a joint lawsuit in California against MiniMax, the Chinese company behind the Hailuo AI app. The studios allege that Hailuo "pirates and plunders" their copyrighted works on a massive scale, using the platform to generate images and videos that replicate characters and scenes from their film and television properties. The complaint includes numerous screenshots of infringing content and accuses MiniMax of actively encouraging violations while marketing the app as a "Hollywood studio in your pocket." This case follows similar actions against other AI generators. Leggi di più

Encyclopedia Britannica and its subsidiary Merriam-Webster have filed a federal lawsuit against AI search company Perplexity, alleging that the firm scrapes their sites, copies definitions, and misuses their trademarks. The complaint claims Perplexity’s answer engine steals copyrighted material, diverts web traffic, and attaches the publishers’ names to inaccurate or incomplete content. Backed by investors such as Jeff Bezos, Perplexity has faced similar legal challenges from News Corp and other media outlets, while also partnering with publications like Time and the Los Angeles Times and launching a chatbot with World History Encyclopedia. Leggi di più

Merriam-Webster and its parent company, Encyclopedia Britannica, have filed a lawsuit against AI answer engine Perplexity, alleging that the platform unlawfully copies their copyrighted content and attributes false or inaccurate information to them. The complaint seeks monetary damages and an injunction to stop the alleged misuse. The filing also notes that Perplexity’s technology diverts user clicks away from publishers, potentially harming their revenue. This is not the company's first legal challenge; prior suits have been brought by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and Japanese media firms Nikkei and Asahi Shimbun. Leggi di più

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the AI image generator Midjourney, joining Disney and Universal in legal actions against the company. The complaint alleges that Midjourney allows users to create images featuring protected characters such as Batman, Scooby Doo and Bugs Bunny, and that the firm knowingly facilitated piracy despite awareness of the issue. Warner Bros. claims Midjourney removed and later reinstated restrictions on video generation and updated its terms to block safety testing. The case highlights growing tensions between the entertainment industry and AI developers over the use of copyrighted material. Leggi di più

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit against AI image generator Midjourney, alleging that the service was trained on and is using the company’s copyrighted characters without permission. The complaint cites examples such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes figures appearing in Midjourney‑generated images. Warner Bros. Discovery says Midjourney removed safeguards that previously blocked such content, allowing users to create and commercialize depictions of its intellectual property. The company is seeking statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work and include references to related lawsuits by Disney and Universal Studios. Leggi di più