Intellectual Property

The lion's share of attention to copyright-infringement claims against Ed Sheeran over his 2016 Grammy-winning Song of the Year "Thinking Out Loud" recently focused on the trial in New York federal court. But in September 2022, a related infringement suit over the same songs' matching chord progression and harmonic rhythm was allowed to proceed.

As we wait to see if Congress does indeed adopt a preemptive federal standard on NIL, the question becomes: What do business owners, interested investors and attorneys need to know prior to signing a college athlete to a NIL contract under the current landscape?

IP experts weigh in on a case involving AI-created images based on an original work. The outcome of the case may have a significant impact on AI development and generative art.

A new balance must be struck between the new use and the exclusive right of authors to make derivative works, and part of that balance includes a clearer focus on the statutory fair use factors as well as the commercial nature or not of the new work. As a practical matter, how much the decision changes in this "troublesome" area remains to be seen.

In recent years, the ITC has issued more General Exclusion Orders (GEOs) than in the past. For importers of products potentially implicated by a requested GEO, the GEO can be a major threat even if the importer is not a respondent in the case.

A patent strategy informed by the unique considerations raised by generative AI will optimize protections for innovations in the field. Patent strategies should reflect the current legal landscape as well as anticipate potential future legal developments.

In recent years, the ITC has issued more General Exclusion Orders (GEOs) than in the past. For IP owners facing infringing imported products from numerous elusive sources, a GEO can be a powerful remedy to tackle all infringing products at once.

As AI increasingly interpenetrates internet transactions, licensing interest expands. The licensing of internet AI intellectual property is stymied because legal difficulties such as the proper assessment of the jurisdiction for the licensing agreement and the nature of the internet including the proper identification of the parties for the licensing agreement.