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New York Times suit may test copyright law's constraints on AI

Dec 28, 2023
Where's the line between fair use and commercial exploitation when it comes to scraping the web to train artificial intelligence models?
Most AI models are trained on data sets scraped from the internet. OpenAI trained its chatbot, ChatGPT, with data that included Times content, the lawsuit says.
Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images

The Internet Archive lawsuit highlights the tricky economics of e-books and libraries

Mar 30, 2023
Public libraries have to pay more for e-books than physical copies, while academic libraries say that journal subscription prices are rising.
A view of the Rose Main Reading Room at the New York Public Library.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

YouTube's automated copyright tool riles up musicians

Nov 4, 2022
Content ID determines when content is copyrighted and can divert payments to the rights holder. But few artists have access to the tool.
YouTube limits access to its copyright tool, Content ID, to about 9,000 movie studios, record labels and publishers.
-/AFP via Getty Images

Taylor Swift unable to shake off copyright lawsuit

Dec 16, 2021
While a judge said that Swift had a strong case against the claim, he concluded that a reasonable jury could find in favor of the plaintiff, meaning it should go to trial.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during the 36th Annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on October 30, 2021 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Apple is investing in a company that lets musicians own their work

Mar 31, 2021
UnitedMasters helps artists distribute music, but it is unclear if this type of alternative model will further disrupt the major record label system.
Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

"Great Gatsby" and other classics enter public domain Jan. 1

Dec 31, 2020
Copyright protections run out for books, songs and other works published in 1925. They will become free for anyone to use.
Want to put on a royalty-free production of "The Great Gatsby"? You can do that after midnight.
Don Emmert/AFP via Getty Images

Satirist Tom Lehrer has put his songs into the public domain

Oct 21, 2020
Anyone's now free to record or perform the 92-year-old songwriter's parodies without owing royalties or consulting lawyers. And that's not a joke.
Tom Lehrer backstage at the Palace Theatre in London in 1959.
Evening Standard/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

EU to vote on contentious copyright proposal

Mar 26, 2019
Members of the European Parliament vote today on a proposal that could make it harder for internet users to share songs, videos and other copyrighted content online.
People take part in a demonstration in favour of the new copyright directive ahead of the vote on copyright in the Digital Single Market at the European Parliament on March 26, 2019 in Strasbourg, eastern France.
FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP/Getty Images

Can you copyright another group's language?

Dec 26, 2018
Sari Sharoni, an associate at the law firm Covington & Burling, joined us to discuss whether groups can legally prevent others from appropriating their language.
A poke dish prepared for a Food Network festival in New York City.
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for NYCWFF

A 20-year-old digital copyright law is still being fought about (and copied) today

Nov 8, 2018
Critics say the law is too broad, and that's had unintended consequences.
Demonstrators picket the U.S. embassy for the freedom of Russian computer programmer Dmitry Sklyarov Aug. 8, 2001 near the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
Getty Images