Category: Fair use

Magistrate Judge Levenson grants in part Suno’s request for discovery re: UMG’s intent to rely on licensing agreements in Factor 4 fair use analysis

Magistrate Judge Levenson issued an electronic order in the UMG Recordings v. Suno suit: “ELECTRONIC ORDER entered GRANTING in part and DENYING in part the discovery requests as set forth in 153 Letter/request (non-motion): The first part deals with identifying the documents for which UMG is asserting privilege related to UMG’s decision to bring the…
Read more: Magistrate Judge Levenson grants in part Suno’s request for discovery re: UMG’s intent to rely on licensing agreements in Factor 4 fair use analysis
The Fair Use Triangle: state of fair use in AI training 2025. No more decisions until mid to late 2026.

Now we know that we won’t have any new decisions on fair use in AI training from other district court judges until mid-2026 at the earliest, let’s take stock of where things stand. 3 Decisions on Fair Use in AI Training: 2 decisions for fair use and 1 against It’s fair (no pun intended) to…
Read more: The Fair Use Triangle: state of fair use in AI training 2025. No more decisions until mid to late 2026.
Which judge will decide fair use next in AI copyright litigation? Judge Saylor IV, most likely

Due to a change in scheduling order in the In re Mosaic LLM Litigation and Concord Music v. Anthropic, we have a new “on the clock” list for the next potential fair use decision, which will not come until 2026. We have an updated prediction of which district court judge will have the next decision…
Read more: Which judge will decide fair use next in AI copyright litigation? Judge Saylor IV, most likely
Which judge will decide fair use next in AI copyright litigation? Judge Saylor IV, most likely

We have an updated prediction of which district court judge will have the next decision on fair use in the AI litigation. Technically, Judge Alsup will get another shot at deciding fair use in the remaining part of the lawsuit in Bartz v. Anthropic, set for trial on December 1, 2025, related to Anthropic’s downloading…
Read more: Which judge will decide fair use next in AI copyright litigation? Judge Saylor IV, most likely
Judge Cisneros allows book authors in Mosaic lawsuit to subpoena Microsoft for ” its communications with and documents regarding entities with which it entered licensing agreements for AI Training Data, where the communications or documents indicate potential or proposed terems for licensing”

In In Re Mosaic LLM Litigation, Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros issued an important discovery ruling allowing the book author plaintiffs to subpoena Microsoft’s documents and communications that “indicate potential or proposed terms for licensing.” Microsoft had already produced the actual licenses it struck with 14 or 15 copyright owners. Although Judge Cisneros rejected the full…
Read more: Judge Cisneros allows book authors in Mosaic lawsuit to subpoena Microsoft for ” its communications with and documents regarding entities with which it entered licensing agreements for AI Training Data, where the communications or documents indicate potential or proposed terems for licensing”
Pres. Trump supports fair use in AI training. Notes importance to national interest. (Video)

After releasing the AI Action Plan for the United States, President Trump strongly supported fair use in AI training. He noted the national interest in developing AI and staying ahead of China, a country that will not require copyright licensing of all data in AI training. Pres. Trump said it’s neither common sense nor workable…
Read more: Pres. Trump supports fair use in AI training. Notes importance to national interest. (Video)
Which judge will decide fair use next in AI copyright litigation? Judge Eumi Lee, most likely

As the dust is still settling from the two fair use decisions by Judges Alsup and Chhabria in the last week of June, we can turn our attention to the next federal judge who will decide fair use in the AI copyright litigation. Looking at the schedules in the cases, it looks like Judge Eumi…
Read more: Which judge will decide fair use next in AI copyright litigation? Judge Eumi Lee, most likely
AI Czar David Sacks praises report of Judge Alsup’s fair use decision. Does not mention pirated books ruling.

AI Czar David Sacks called Judge Alsup’s fair use decision in Bartz v. Anthropic a “positive ruling for AI.” The excepted portion of the Reuters news report that Sacks commented did not include Judge Alsup’s stern rebuke of Antrhopic’s use of pirated books, however. So, it’s unclear what Sacks’ view is with respect to that…
Read more: AI Czar David Sacks praises report of Judge Alsup’s fair use decision. Does not mention pirated books ruling.
Comparing Judge Alsup and Judge Chhabria’s fair use decisions in Anthropic, Meta cases

Below we compare and contrast the two decisions in Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta. The key differences are indicated by an asterisk*. Table. Comparison of Judge Alsup’s and Judge Chhabria’s decisions on fair use Fair Use Factor Judge Alsup (Bartz v. Anthropic) Judge Chhabria (Kadrey v. Meta) Is downloading “pirated” books datasets separate…
Read more: Comparing Judge Alsup and Judge Chhabria’s fair use decisions in Anthropic, Meta cases
More on Judge Alsup’s Solomonic decision finding fair use and infringement in Bartz v. Anthropic

Judge William Alsup issued the first decision on fair use and infringement in a generative AI case, Bartz v. Anthropic. It was a split decision: (1) copies used to train Anthropic’s AI model were “exceedingly transformative” and fair uses to develop a technology “among the most transformative many of us will see in our lifetimes,”…
Read more: More on Judge Alsup’s Solomonic decision finding fair use and infringement in Bartz v. Anthropic