Category: Lawsuits

OpenAI continues to litigate in court of public opinion, refuting Elon Musk lawsuit

OpenAI has continued to litigate in the court of public opinion. It first did so in responding to the New York Times copyright lawsuit in a blog post asserting that the NYT exploited a “rare bug” to regurgitate NYT articles potentially in violation of OpenAI’s terms of use. Later, in its motion to dismiss, OpenAI…
Read more: OpenAI continues to litigate in court of public opinion, refuting Elon Musk lawsuit
Lawsuit alleging AI v. copyright termination right, Hill v. MGM (Complaint)

In a Complaint that reads like a law school exam question, the author R. Lance Hill, aka Davide Henry Lee, who wrote the screenplay to the movie Roadhouse in 1986, MGM for its making of a sequel to the movie Roadhouse, starring Patrick Swayze in 1988. Hill alleges that he exercised his termination right under…
Read more: Lawsuit alleging AI v. copyright termination right, Hill v. MGM (Complaint)
OpenAI: Elon Musk’s “suit may stem from Elon’s regrets about not being involved with the company today”

As first reported by CNBC, OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon sent an internal memo to employees defending the company and suggesting that Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI “may stem from Elon’s regrets about not being involved with the company today.” Musk was one of the first funders and a co-founder of OpenAI back in…
Read more: OpenAI: Elon Musk’s “suit may stem from Elon’s regrets about not being involved with the company today”
Judge Martínez-Olguín rejects Plaintiffs’ motion in California case to enjoin OpenAI from defending different lawsuit in New York

The Joseph Saveri Law Firm, representing the book author plaintiffs in In re ChatGPT Litigation in the Northern District of California, filed a curious motion to enjoin OpenAI from defending itself in the different case, Authors Guild v. OpenAI, filed in the Southern District of New York. The Joseph Saveri Law Firm appeared to be…
Read more: Judge Martínez-Olguín rejects Plaintiffs’ motion in California case to enjoin OpenAI from defending different lawsuit in New York
Elon Musk v. Sam Altman, OpenAI Complaint (PDF). OpenAI sued 4 times in 2 days.

On February 29, 2024, two new lawsuits were filed against OpenAI, bringing the total of new lawsuits against OpenAI to 4 lawsuits in just two days, including the two new copyright suits. The most high profile lawsuit is the one brought by Elon Musk against Sam Altman and OpenAI. Musk was one of the initial…
Read more: Elon Musk v. Sam Altman, OpenAI Complaint (PDF). OpenAI sued 4 times in 2 days.
The Ultraman problem: China court rules AI company liable for infringing images of superhero

As reported by the Global Times, the Guangzhou Internet Court has ruled that an AI company that provided a text-to-image generator to paid subscribers was liable for copyright infringement based on the generation of the comic character Ultraman or similar figures. The AI generated images violated the reproduction and adaptation rights of the author. The…
Read more: The Ultraman problem: China court rules AI company liable for infringing images of superhero
Status of all copyright lawsuits v. AI (Feb. 29 , 2024)

Here’s the latest status report of the copyright lawsuits against AI companies as of Feb. 29, 2024. Highlights of this week: Also, please visit our Master List of all cases, which we just reorganized by juridisctions. Status of U.S. Copyright Lawsuits v. AI Cos. Case name Jurisdiction Judge Latest status Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH…
Read more: Status of all copyright lawsuits v. AI (Feb. 29 , 2024)
OpenAI sued again, now by The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet. (Complaints)

The copyright lawsuits keep coming. This time, the Internet news sites Raw Story, AlterNet, and The Intercept have sued OpenAI in two lawsuits in the Southern District of New York. (First reported by The Daily Beast.) Very surprisingly, the two complaints allege only claims for removal of copyright management information under Section 1202 of the…
Read more: OpenAI sued again, now by The Intercept, Raw Story, AlterNet. (Complaints)
Must reads: Timothy Lee, Grimmelmann, Sag on AI lawsuits; Samuelson on remedies, destruction of AI models

For those of you following the 16 copyright lawsuits against AI companies, including OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, plus several AI text-to-image generators, three very insightful articles were recently published by some of the leading copyright experts in the field. Timothy B. Lee and James Grimmelmann wrote an article in ars technica, provocatively titled: Why…
Read more: Must reads: Timothy Lee, Grimmelmann, Sag on AI lawsuits; Samuelson on remedies, destruction of AI models
Status of all copyright lawsuits v. AI (Feb. 18 , 2024)

Here’s the latest status report of the U.S. copyright lawsuits against AI companies as of Feb. 18, 2024. The biggest development was Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin’s granting in part OpenAI’s motion to dismiss the vicarious infringement claims, Section 1202 copyright management information claims, and some state law claims. Status of U.S. Copyright Lawsuits v. AI Cos.…
Read more: Status of all copyright lawsuits v. AI (Feb. 18 , 2024)