The Supreme Court’s clarification, in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, of the standards for contributory infringement based on a showing of the defendant’s intent continues to reverberate in the copyright lawsuits against AI companies. The Court held: “To establish that a provider intended its service to be used for infringement, a copyright owner must show one of two things. First, it can show that a party affirmatively ‘induc[ed]’ the infringement. Or, second,
it can show that the party sold a service tailored to infringement.”
Book author Nazemian and NVIDIA filed competing supplemental briefs explaining how Cox affects Nazemian’s claims for contributory infringement. Both parties say Cox supports their positions!
Based on the many criticisms of the Supreme Court’s decision in Cox by the American Association of Publishers, Authors Guild, RIAA, and the Motion Picture Association, it’s hard not to conclude the decision is potentially more helpful to the AI companies in their defense of contributory infringement based on outputs generated by third parties who allegedly commit direct infringement using the AI. We shall see.
Nazemian Brief:
NVIDIA Brief:
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