The anticipated U.S. Copyright Office Report titled “Copyright and Artificial Intelligence, Part 3: Generative AI Training” was released in a pre-publication version on May 9, 2025. The report is 113 pages with 588 footnotes gives a lot of feedback from comments for and against AI platforms copying everything that has been digitized in the world. […]
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Category: infringement
CASE Act of 2020
The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2020 is the latest federal law regarding copyright law. This act created a Copyright Claims Board (CCB) that offers a low cost alternative to federal court for bringing suit for alleged copyright infringement. The CCB began accepting cases in June 2022. A number of cases are pending as […]
Animal Copyrights cont.
Naruto is not monkeying around folks! The saga of the monkey Naruto’s copyright battle continues. This blog is about more than animal copyrights, however. Regardless of the outcome, there is an obvious lesson for all publishers in Naruto’s case and its appeal regarding the copyrights to the photos taken by the monkey. This case, (discussed below) […]
Timely copyright registration is essenti...
Timely Copyright Registration is Essential Timely copyright registration is essential. All of us, whether authors, bloggers, or companies with a web presence, can let an important step in publishing fall through the cracks. No one may be aware of a problem until they are slammed into the brick wall of infringement-without-an-expedient–means-to-address-it. Often companies and bloggers with […]
Graffiti Copyright Battles
I recently acquired copyright permission for a client to use a photograph of a mural painted on the wall of a restaurant. On first consideration, my client didn’t even factor into his publication plan what action might be required for the legal use of the mural. At the time the painting was conceived and created, […]
Boomers Beware of Copyright Infringement...
We often help Baby Boomers with copyright clearance issues as they come close to realizing a long-held goal of getting their memoirs written and published. Avoiding accidental copyright infringement is a frequent discussion topic. Baby Boomers want to write their memoirs for various reasons. They may suddenly be compelled to take that step of authorship because they have such […]
Substantial similarities
How does the concept of substantial similarities relate to copyright infringement? When we hear that only the expression of an idea and not the idea itself can lead to an infringement claim, we should use caution in assuming that only direct quotes or close paraphrasing will get us in trouble. We may mistakenly think, “Oh […]
Animal Copyrights?
Animal copyrights ownership: a nature photographer and self-publisher vs. a crested macaque. Animal copyrights is one of the more interesting copyright court cases of late. In September 2015 PETA filed a copyright infringement suit in a California federal court asking that Naruto, a crested macaque, be declared the copyright owner of a selfie he took in […]
Derivatives – Build on Another’s Work
Derivatives must be transformative U.S. Copyright Law is all about protecting creators’ works in order to offer incentive to these creators so that they keep on producing works for the good of society. So it seems that building on an existing work such as a play, poem, song, or film would be blessed in the eyes […]
Part II: Terms of Use & Copyright
Careful review of Terms of Use (TOU) may keep you from infringing on the copyrights of others, as we discussed in Part I. In this part we will discuss why it is important to know that you can use TOUs to protect your own work from abuse by others. If you were contributing to a print work, you […]