When something is referred to as a "knockoff" it typically implies that the knockoff product is similar in appearance to an earlier product and is unlawful. But that is not always the case. Indeed, there can be infringing knockoffs and noninfringing knockoffs. It depends on the facts and circumstances. To appreciate the difference, a look into the general rules and some specific cases is needed.
A federal appeals court departed from five sister circuits determining damages in a copyright infringement case, taking a position the Copyright Alliance called "a cruel joke."
A wide range of tools have been developed to perform vocal cloning, leading to vocal deepfakes becoming a common source of scams and misinformation. And these issues have only been exacerbated by a lack of appropriate laws and regulations to rein in the use of AI and protect an individual's right to their voice.
The adoption of the DMCA-style notice-and-takedown system is promising. But vocal artists will likely need greater protections on the improper or unauthorized use of their voice, and stronger regulations requiring the disclosure of any use of AI in advertising, promotions or other digital or audio content placed on the Internet.
The suit raises the issue of whether "response" songs can have legal protection from copyright owners of the song that generated the response composition.
Artists protesting the use of their music in political campaign settings and threatening to sue has been in the news a lot this election season. This article provides a refresher on the smattering of notable decisions as well as a look at the latest in the lawsuit by the estate of Isaac Hayes over the Trump campaign's use of the classic soul song "Hold On, I'm Coming."
The LJN Quarterly Update highlights some of the articles from the nine LJN Newsletters titles over the quarter. Articles include in-depth analysis and insights from lawyers and other practice area experts.
When artists take action over political-campaign settings, it's usually in the form of a cease-and-desist letter sent to a candidate's representatives. In some instances, artists file lawsuits, but to date there's been just a smattering of notable court decisions. This article provides a refresher on these rulings as well as a look at the recent lawsuit by the estate of Isaac Hayes over the Trump campaign's use of the classic soul song "Hold On, I'm Coming."
The Eighth Circuit expanded its jurisprudence on copyright law twice in recent months. Addressing questions ranging from copyrightability to fair use, and arising from separate disputes involving a car dealership's customer intake form and a popular meme, these two opinions round out a body of just seven decisions on copyright law released by this appellate court in the past five years.
A new class action filed on behalf of several authors alleges that artificial intelligence startup Anthropic committed "brazen infringement" by using "hundreds of thousands" of copyrighted books to train "Claude," its flagship collection of large language models.
