It will likely be well over a year since the fair use decisions of Judge Alsup and Judge Chhabria before we have another federal judge weigh in on fair use. Their decisions came on June. 23 and June 25, 2025, respectively.
Judge Lee, upon the stipulation of the parties in Concord Music v. Anthropic, just pushed back the briefing on summary judgment until June 8, 2026 (replies) and the hearing until July 15, 2026. This looks like the case next in line for a possible decision on fair use.
Amended Scheduling Order:
Here are the current schedules related to summary judgment motions:
- July 8, 2026 – In re Google Gen AI Litigation last day to file SJ motion (Judge Lee); last day to hear SJ motions Sept. 11, 2026, at 1:30 PM (see ECF No. 199) [Pending Plaintiffs’ motion to extend the scheduling order proposes to push the hearing to “March 10, 2027 at 10:00 a.m., or 90 days following issuance of an order on class certification, whichever is sooner” See ECF No. 403.]***Under current schedule, 2d up
- July 15, 2026 – Concord Music v. Anthropic hearing on SJ (Judge Lee) (see ECF No. 587)**NEXT UP
- Aug. 14, 2026 – UMG Recordings v. Suno SJ motions due (Judge Saylor IV) [Pending motion to extend the scheduling order may push this out at least 3 months. ECF No. 187]
- Oct. 16, 2026 – In re OpenAI Infringement Litigation replies on SJ due (Judge Stein) (see ECF No. 238)
- Oct. 30, 2026 – In re Mosaic LLM Litigation replies on SJ due (Judge Breyer) (see ECF No. 270)
- Nov. 4, 2026 – Andersen v. Stability AI hearing on SJ (Judge Orrick)
- Nov. 23, 2026 – Nazemian, Dubus v. NVIDIA replies due on SJ (Judge Tigar)
Most, if not all, of these cases have already extended their schedules at least once.
Judge Eumi Lee appears to be the judge with the next opportunity to rule on fair use in AI training in Concord Music v. Anthropic, given the summary judgment hearing on July 15, 2026.
Another decision on the issue of fair use would be in the interest of all parties involved in the 80 plus copyright cases. And having the appellate courts weigh in would be helpful.