Copyright Infringement Archives - Page 4 of 9

USCO Rules That AI Artwork Doesn’t Have Copyright Protection

In a serious blow to AI image generator users, the United States Copyright Office (USCO) has reversed a decision it made last September regarding whether AI-generated artwork enjoyed the same copyright protection as human-generated art. The copyright office maintains that AI artwork generated by Midjourney and other text-to-image software is not protected by copyright law, […]

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Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Filed Against Midjourney

Three AI image generators—DeviantArt, Midjourney and Stability AI—have been served with a major class action lawsuit, in an effort to defend artists. These platforms have been accused of unlawful competition, right of publicity violations and DMCA violations, and the lawsuit states that artists must be protected and compensated for their work. AI Image Generators and

Jury Rules in Favor of Hermès in MetaBirkins Copyright Case

By ruling in favor of the French luxury brand Hermès in their lawsuit against Mason Rothschild, a digital artist who created the ‘MetaBirkin’ NFT, the federal jury has set a precedent for future NFT copyright cases. The jury returned their verdict after a trial that lasted five days, finding that the NFT based on Birkin

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Notorious Markets Piracy Sites List Published by U.S. Gov’t.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes its annual Notorious Markets Report, which was recently released. The report focuses on the physical markets and websites that are seen to be the biggest threats to the country’s intellectual property owners. It is from submissions from copyright owners that the list is compiled. This

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Getty Accuses AI Image Generator of Copyright Infringement

Today, the stock image company announced a legal action in the UK against AI tool developer Stability AI. They allege that the organization unlawfully duplicated and processed millions of images that Getty owns or represents, which are under copyright protection, along with the associated metadata. Getty also accuses Stability AI of scraping images from its

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Z-Library and LibGen Move Book Piracy to the Dark Web

Book Piracy, Copyright Infringement / November 30, 2022

One indication of how hard it is to completely eradicate book piracy is how quickly shuttered websites can find a new online home. Recently Z-Library head librarians were federally charged with copyright infringement, money laundering and wire fraud, and several of their websites were seized by the FBI. Shadow archivists—the digital librarians that maintain the

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TikTok Hashtag Brings Down Z-Library Textbook Piracy Site

Book Piracy, Copyright Infringement / November 17, 2022

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Russian nationals Valeriia Ermakova and Anton Napolsky were arrested in Argentina on November 3 and charged with criminal copyright infringement in addition to money laundering and wire fraud. The Russians are allegedly the architects of the popular textbook piracy platform, Z-Library. The e-book pirates are accused of illegally

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Torrent Site Co-Founder Guilty of Movie Piracy: #5 of 7

In 2020, a private torrent site called Asgaard was shuttered after significant legal pressure. Now its 47-year-old co-founder has been convicted for his role in massive movie piracy. He was sentenced to three months of probation, 80 hours of community service and a fine. In addition to Asgaard, he was also involved with other pirate

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Labels Awarded $46.7 Million From ISP in Music Piracy Trial

In Austin, Texas, a federal jury has ruled that Grande Communications Networks LLC, rebranded as Astound Broadband, must pay several music labels $46.7 million as compensation for music piracy committed by its users. The jury decided that the internet service provider should be held responsible for users’ infringement activities on its platform. Plaintiffs included Warner

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Developers Sue GitHub for Alleged Copilot Software Piracy

GitHub’s Copilot program removes the licenses of thousands of software developers, perhaps millions, leading to what is effectively software piracy on a massive scale. That is what’s at the center of an important class action lawsuit filed by Joseph Saveri Law Firm and programmer Matthew Butterick, in San Francisco’s federal court. Along with GitHub, the

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