NVIDIA’s $19.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, a platform for sharing open source models as well as datasets, just got a bit more complicated. Hugging Face, one of the defendants in a copyright suit filed by the car imagery producer EVOX Productions, failed to answer the complaint after reportedly being served with a summons. After EVOX Productions requested a default against Hugging Face, the Clerk of the court issued a Default by Clerk pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(a).
what happens next? Did hugging face lose?
The other defendants — Stability AI, Runway AI, and Deviant Art — all answered the complaint. So the case against them proceeds. EVOX Productions can seek from the court the entry of a default judgment under Rule 55(b)(2). At that stage, the court would consider the issue of damages. Unclear, though, whether the court would consider a default judgment now or later when there’s been time for discovery on the number of EVOX works involved in the alleged infringement.
Under Rule 55(c), the court also can set aside the default “for good cause.”
other defaults or default judgments
This is not the first default in the AI copyright litigation. Default judgments were obtained in Atlantic Recording v. Anna’s Archive and Apress v. Anna’s Archive in the Southern District of New York. And a default by the clerk was recently issued in Apress Media v. WeLib.
