Federal jury rejects hymn copyright infringement claim against British composer; The Oregonian, March 20, 2026

Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian; Federal jury rejects hymn copyright infringement claim against British composer

"A jury in Portland on Friday found that a British composer didn’t purloin musical passages of an American composer’s Christian hymn in a case that brought both musicians into a downtown federal courtroom to play the pieces. 

The composers took turns using an electric keyboard positioned in front of the jury box during a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut.

The eight jurors got the case Thursday afternoon and spent less than a day deliberating before returning its verdict that Bernadette Farrell of London hadn’t copied notes from Vincent A. Ambrosetti’s “Emmanuel.”"

The dictionaries are suing OpenAI for ‘massive’ copyright infringement, and say ChatGPT is starving publishers of revenue; Fortune, March 21, 2026

 Jake Angelo, Fortune; The dictionaries are suing OpenAI for ‘massive’ copyright infringement, and say ChatGPT is starving publishers of revenue

"In a filing submitted to the Southern District of New York, the companies accuse OpenAI of cannibalizing the traffic and ad revenue that publishers depend on to survive. “ChatGPT starves web publishers, like [the] Plaintiffs, of revenue,” the complaint reads. Where a traditional search engine sends users to a publisher’s website, Britannica and Merriam-Webster allege ChatGPT instead absorbs the content and delivers a polished answer. It also alleges the AI company fed its LLM with researched and fact-checked work of the companies’ hundreds of human writers and editors...

In an apt example, the complaint describes a prompt asking “How does Merriam-Webster define plagiarize?” to which the model reportedly responded with a definition identical to the one found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The complaint adds that the dictionary has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office."

Music copyright case in Portland focuses on 12 bars from two Catholic hymns; The Oregonian, March 18, 2026

 Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive; Music copyright case in Portland focuses on 12 bars from two Catholic hymns

"Two composers are dueling in court in a copyright infringement case this week in Portland over 12 bars of 26 notes in two Catholic hymns...

American composer Vincent A. Ambrosetti wrote the music and lyrics for “Emmanuel,” in 1980 and claims London-based composer Bernadette Farrell stole from his song to write her “Christ, Be Our Light,” in 1993."

ByteDance’s Controversial AI Video Model Reportedly on Hold Globally Due to Copyright Disputes; Gizmodo, March 14, 2026

 MIKE PEARL  , Gizmodo; ByteDance’s Controversial AI Video Model Reportedly on Hold Globally Due to Copyright Disputes

"According to two anonymous leakers who spoke to the Information, the global release of Seedance 2.0 is on hold amid legal action from movie studios and streaming services.

When it was initially released, Seedance 2.0 appeared to have few if any protections in place to prevent users from generating videos appearing to star celebrities, copyrighted characters, and celebrities as copyrighted characters."

Waterbury's Post University awarded $75.3M in copyright infringement lawsuit; CT Insider, March 11, 2026

 Richard Chumney , CT Insider; Waterbury's Post University awarded $75.3M in copyright infringement lawsuit

"A federal jury composed of Connecticut residents has ordered the education software company Learneo to pay Post University more than $75.3 million in damages for distributing school-owned documents on its Course Hero platform. 

The Hartford jury found the San Francisco-based company violated U.S. copyright law by hosting the documents without permission and altered the files to conceal the infringement, according to court records."

Nielsen's Gracenote sues OpenAI for copyright infringement; Axios, March 10, 2026

 Sara Fischer, Axios; Nielsen's Gracenote sues OpenAI for copyright infringement

"How it works: Gracenote employs hundreds of editors who use human insight and judgment to create millions of narrative descriptions, original video descriptors, unique identifiers and other program identifiers that TV providers and other clients can use to help customers discover content. 

For example, Gracenote editors described HBO's "Game of Thrones" as "the depiction of two power families — kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars and honest men — playing a deadly game of control of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, and to sit atop the Iron Throne."

In the lawsuit, Gracenote alleges OpenAI scraped and used a near-exact copy of that descriptor when prompted by a ChatGPT user to describe "Game of Thrones." 

It provides several other examples where, with minimal prompting, OpenAI's various ChatGPT models recite large portions of Gracenote's program descriptions verbatim. 

Between the lines: Gracenote's entire Programs Database, which includes its metadata and the proprietary relational map its editors use to connect that data, is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office."

1970 No. 1 Hit Song Sparked the Decade’s Biggest Copyright Lawsuit; Men's Journal, February 17, 2026

MATTHEW THOMAS, Men's Journal; 1970 No. 1 Hit Song Sparked the Decade’s Biggest Copyright Lawsuit

"On November 28, 1970, George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord/Isn’t It a Pity” reached number 1 on the Billboard chart together. The songs would hold that top slot for 4 weeks and spend 14 weeks on the charts in total.

“My Sweet Lord” soon spawned an infamous “subconscious plagiarism” legal fight that resulted in a landmark ruling that still profoundly affects the music industry today."

Legal Battle Continues for Amyl & the Sniffers and L.A. Photographer, Both Citing Copyright Infringement; Vice, February 4, 2026

 Lauren Boisvert, Vice; Legal Battle Continues for Amyl & the Sniffers and L.A. Photographer, Both Citing Copyright Infringement

"Legal issues have escalated for Australian punks Amyl & The Sniffers, and right after they announced upcoming tour dates. L.A. courts scheduled a hearing for February 13, 2026, regarding a copyright lawsuit and a restraining order filed last year. The issue allegedly began in June 2024, involving L.A.-based photographer Jamie Nelson.

In December 2025, Nelson filed a civil harassment restraining order petition against Amy Taylor, vocalist of Amyl & The Sniffers. Courts in L.A. did not grant the temporary restraining order. But they did schedule the hearing at this time.

Nelson is cited as the creator and copyright holder of a series of photographs taken of Taylor. The series, titled “Champagne Problems”, appeared in the July 2025 issue of Vogue Portugal.The problem arises for both parties in the subsequent use of these photos beyond their initial purpose.

Essentially, Nelson is accusing Taylor of violating copyright on her photos. Allegedly, a third party related to Taylor distributed them without permission. Prior to this, Taylor accused Nelson of exploiting her image for profit and self-advertisement. Allegedly, she sold fine art prints of the photos. Both parties have taken legal action."

Music Labels Secure Win in Copyright Suit Over Documentary Music; Bloomberg Law, February 5, 2026

 

Kyle Jahner

, Bloomberg Law; Music Labels Secure Win in Copyright Suit Over Documentary Music

"A group of music labels secured near-total victory in a copyright-infringement lawsuit against the seller of ten documentaries about various bands.

Coda Publishing Ltd. and its owner willfully infringed more than 100 songs by the Rolling Stones, ABBA, U2, Nirvana, Elton John, Lynyrd Skynrd, and Red Hot Chili Peppers, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said. The Wednesday order, citing reasons stated orally in court earlier that day, resolved summary judgment motions filed in 2021 in a case that had been stayed since a 2022 discovery sanctions ruling against the labels."

Judge Lets Blade Runner 2049 Copyright Suit Against Elon Musk and Tesla Move Forward; Reason, February 6, 2026

JACK NICASTRO, Reason; Judge Lets Blade Runner 2049 Copyright Suit Against Elon Musk and Tesla Move Forward

"Wu's ruling will set a precedent for copyright holders to sue anyone whom they assume illegally copied their intellectual property to create something entirely unmistakable for it because the cases will be less likely to be dismissed. This means an increase in the expected cost of using generative AI—litigation is expensive—and a corresponding decrease in creative, productive uses of this revolutionary technology."

Music publishers sue Anthropic for $3B over ‘flagrant piracy’ of 20,000 works; TechCrunch, January 29, 2026

 Amanda Silberling, TechCrunch; Music publishers sue Anthropic for $3B over ‘flagrant piracy’ of 20,000 works 

"A cohort of music publishers led by Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group are suing Anthropic, saying the company illegally downloaded more than 20,000 copyrighted songs, including sheet music, song lyrics, and musical compositions.

The publishers said in a statement on Wednesday that the damages could amount to more than $3 billion, which would be one of the largest non-class action copyright cases filed in U.S. history.

This lawsuit was filed by the same legal team from the Bartz v. Anthropic case, in which a group of fiction and nonfiction authors similarly accused the AI company of using their copyrighted works to train products like Claude."

YouTubers sue Snap for alleged copyright infringement in training its AI models; TechCrunch, January 26, 2026

 Sarah Perez, TechCrunch; YouTubers sue Snap for alleged copyright infringement in training its AI models

"A group of YouTubers who are suing tech giants for scraping their videos without permission to train AI models has now added Snap to their list of defendants. The plaintiffs — internet content creators behind a trio of YouTube channels with roughly 6.2 million collective subscribers — allege that Snap has trained its AI systems on their video content for use in AI features like the app’s “Imagine Lens,” which allows users to edit images using text prompts.

The plaintiffs earlier filed similar lawsuits against Nvidia, Meta, and ByteDance over similar matters.

In the newly filed proposed class action suit, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the YouTubers specifically call out Snap for its use of a large-scale, video-language dataset known as HD-VILA-100M, and others that were designed for only academic and research purposes. To use these datasets for commercial purposes, the plaintiffs claim Snap circumvented YouTube’s technological restrictions, terms of service, and licensing limitations, which prohibit commercial use."

OpenAI Must Turn Over 20 Million ChatGPT Logs, Judge Affirms; Bloomberg Law, January 5, 2026

 

Kyle Jahner

, Bloomberg Law; OpenAI Must Turn Over 20 Million ChatGPT Logs, Judge Affirms

"OpenAI Inc. will have to turn over 20 million anonymized ChatGPT logs in a consolidated AI copyright case after it failed to convince a federal judge to throw out a magistrate judge’s order the company said insufficiently weighed privacy concerns.

Magistrate Judge Ona T. Wang sufficiently considered privacy concerns against the material’s relevance to the ongoing litigation in her discovery ruling in favor of news organization plaintiffs in five lawsuits, District Judge Sidney H. Stein said in an order Monday. She rejected OpenAI’s arguments it should be allowed to run a search of the 20 million-log sample and produce conversations implicating the plaintiffs’ works, saying no case law requires the court to order the least burdensome discovery possible."

AI copyright battles enter pivotal year as US courts weigh fair use; Reuters, January 5, 2026

Blake Brittain , Reuters; AI copyright battles enter pivotal year as US courts weigh fair use

"The sprawling legal fight over tech companies' vast copying of copyrighted material to train their artificial intelligence systems could be entering a decisive phase in 2026.

After a string of fresh lawsuits and a landmark settlement in 2025, the new year promises to bring a wave of rulings that could define how U.S. copyright law applies to generative AI. At stake is whether companies like OpenAI, Google and Meta can rely on the legal doctrine of fair use to shield themselves from liability – or if they must reimburse copyright holders, which could cost billions."

AI Will Continue to Dominate California IP Litigation in 2026; Bloomberg Law, December 26, 2025

Annelise Levy

, Bloomberg Law; AI Will Continue to Dominate California IP Litigation in 2026

"Lawsuits against AI giants OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity are set to continue headlining intellectual property developments in California federal courts in 2026.

In the coming months, we’ll see decisions in two key cases: whether Anthropic PBC’s historic $1.5 billion copyright settlement with authors will receive final approval and if music publishers’ separate copyright lawsuit against the artificial intelligence company will head to trial in September.

Here’s a closer look at the California legal battles that could redefine the landscape of IP law next year."

OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI Hit With Copyright Suit from Writers; Bloomberg Law, December 22, 2025

Annelise Levy, Bloomberg Law; OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI Hit With Copyright Suit from Writers

"Writers including Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Carreyrou filed a copyright lawsuit accusing six AI giants of using pirated copies of their books to train large language models.

The complaint, filed Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, claims Anthropic PBC, Google LLC, OpenAI Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., xAI Corp., and Perplexity AI Inc. committed a “deliberate act of theft.”

It is the first copyright lawsuit against xAI over its training process, and the first suit brought by authors against Perplexity...

Carreyrou is among the authors who opted out of a $1.5 billion class-action settlement with Anthropic."

Authors Ask to Update Meta AI Copyright Suit With Torrent Claim; Bloomberg Law, December 12, 2025

 

Kyle Jahner

, Bloomberg Law; Authors Ask to Update Meta AI Copyright Suit With Torrent Claim

"Authors in a putative class action copyright suit against Meta Platforms Inc. asked a federal judge for permission to amend their complaint to add a claim over Meta’s use of peer-to-peer file-sharing unveiled in discovery."

Disney says Google AI infringes copyright “on a massive scale”; Ars Technica, December 11, 2025

 RYAN WHITWAM , Ars Technica; Disney says Google AI infringes copyright “on a massive scale”

"Disney has sent a cease and desist to Google, alleging the company’s AI tools are infringing Disney’s copyrights “on a massive scale.”

According to the letter, Google is violating the entertainment conglomerate’s intellectual property in multiple ways. The legal notice says Google has copied a “large corpus” of Disney’s works to train its gen AI models, which is believable, as Google’s image and video models will happily produce popular Disney characters—they couldn’t do that without feeding the models lots of Disney data.

The C&D also takes issue with Google for distributing “copies of its protected works” to consumers."

Has Cambridge-based AI music upstart Suno 'gone legit'?; WBUR, December 11, 2025

 

Tiziana Dearing 

Rob Lane

, WBUR; Has Cambridge-based AI music upstart Suno 'gone legit'?

"The Cambridge-based AI music company Suno, which has been besieged by lawsuits from record labels, is now teaming up with behemoth label Warner Music. Under a new partnership, Warner will license music in its catalogue for use by Suno's AI.

Copyright law experts Peter Karol and Bhamati Viswanathan join WBUR's Morning Edition to discuss what the deal between Suno and Warner Music means for the future of intellectual property."

AI firms began to feel the legal wrath of copyright holders in 2025; NewScientist, December 10, 2025

 Chris Stokel-Walker , NewScientist; AI firms began to feel the legal wrath of copyright holders in 2025

"The three years since the release of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s generative AI chatbot, have seen huge changes in every part of our lives. But one area that hasn’t changed – or at least, is still trying to maintain pre-AI norms – is the upholding of copyright law.

It is no secret that leading AI firms built their models by hoovering up data, including copyrighted material, from the internet without asking for permission first. This year, major copyright holders struck back, buffeting AI companies were with a range of lawsuits alleging copyright infringement."