Category: Judge Chhabria

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.
Judge Chhabria grants extension to schedule in Kadrey v. Meta

Judge Chhabria granted the parties’ request for an extension to the scheduling order of 50 and 60 days to the deadlines, in light of “new evidence” Meta recently discovered and produced to the Kadrey plaintiffs. After Judge Chhabria’s momentous grant of partial summary judgment on fair use to Meta, this case has become relatively quiet.…
Read more: Judge Chhabria grants extension to schedule in Kadrey v. Meta
Kadrey’s remaining distribution claim v. Meta

Here’s the schedule for Kadrey’s remaining distribution (via BitTorrenting) claim against Meta: Designation of Experts due by 9/30/2025. Rebuttal Reports due by 10/30/2025. Expert Depositions due by 11/10/2025. Brief 1 due by 11/21/25. Brief 2 due by 12/19/25. Brief 3 due by 1/15/26. Brief 4 due by 1/29/26. Motion Hearing set for 2/12/2026 at 10:00…
Read more: Kadrey’s remaining distribution claim v. Meta
Kadrey, Meta disagree on how to proceed after Judge Chhabria’s partial summary judgment. Kadrey wants supplemental briefing on Meta’s alleged uploading of book copies. Meta wants partial final judgment.

In Kadrey v. Meta, the parties filed their statements on how they believe Judge Chhabria should proceed. There’s one outstanding item left in the case related to the alleged infringement by Meta in uploading copies of pirated books (leeching) during the process of torrenting them (including downloading) from shadow libraries. As Judge Chhabria ruled in…
Read more: Kadrey, Meta disagree on how to proceed after Judge Chhabria’s partial summary judgment. Kadrey wants supplemental briefing on Meta’s alleged uploading of book copies. Meta wants partial final judgment.
Judge Chhabria grants Meta summary judgment finding no DMCA CMI violation when defendant engaged in fair use, not infringement

As he indicated in his earlier decision on fair use, Judge Chhabria just issued his decision granting Meta summary judgment and finding it did not violate the DMCA CMI provision for intentional removal of CMI, Section 1202(b)(1). Meta acted under fair use, not infringement, and therefore a predicate component of the double scienter of 1202(b)(1)…
Read more: Judge Chhabria grants Meta summary judgment finding no DMCA CMI violation when defendant engaged in fair use, not infringement
Three judges made fair use rulings re: AI training. They appear torn.

With this week’s blockbuster rulings in Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta, we now have decisions by three federal judges on the question whether the use of copyrighted works to train AI models that do not produce allegedly infringing outputs when deployed is a fair use. This is a novel question of law, so…
Read more: Three judges made fair use rulings re: AI training. They appear torn.
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
Meta prevails on fair use in AI training in Kadrey v. Meta. But Judge Chhabria cautions a better record of dilution or market harm could prevail in other cases.

Judge Chhabria just issued his decision granting Meta partial summary judgment on fair use. But Judge Chabbira did so reluctantly, stating that the plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence of market dilution but expecting in other cases a better record of market dilution would have a different result. Indeed, on p. 1 of the opinion,…
Read more: Meta prevails on fair use in AI training in Kadrey v. Meta. But Judge Chhabria cautions a better record of dilution or market harm could prevail in other cases.
How will Judge Chhabria rule on fair use in Kadrey v. Meta?

With Judge Alsup’s split decision in Bartz v. Anthropic, all eyes now turn to Judge Chhabria for his ruling on fair use versus infringement in the Kadrey v. Meta suit. The issues in the two cases are fairly similar involving book authors whose books were used to train AI models. One procedural difference is that,…
Read more: How will Judge Chhabria rule on fair use in Kadrey v. Meta?
Who will decide fair use first — Judge Alsup or Judge Chhabria?

Two cases in the Northern District of California have had oral arguments on the respective defendant’s motion for summary judgment on fair use: Kadrey v. Meta and Bartz v. Anthropic. Both involve lawsuits brought by book authors. Both involve the defendant’s use of so-called pirated books datasets, or shadow libraries, which defendants contend were used…
Read more: Who will decide fair use first — Judge Alsup or Judge Chhabria?