Colbert ‘Charlie Brown’ Joke Conjures Untested Copyright Theory; Bloomberg Law, May 29, 2026

  Kyle Jahner, Bloomberg Law; Colbert ‘Charlie Brown’ Joke Conjures Untested Copyright Theory

"But use of the music also touches on issues involving “synchronization rights"—a separate right to use music that appears in an audio-visual work.

The concept arose from a 1948 New York federal court case describing the form of copyright movie studios acquired in order to use music in their films. Theaters didn’t have to separately pay the performance rights organization for the right to use the songs on top of rights to play the movie because the movie producer already had paid for the right to incorporate the music into their work, the court said.

How exactly that right relates to taped television performances and rebroadcasts on TV and online isn’t well-tested. 

John Simson, a professor of IP law at American University, said there’s a broad assumption that a sync license is required to do virtually anything with a taped performance.

“Publishers in the US have taken the position that it’s a sync even if you just show video of a performance,” said Simson, former executive director of sound recording rights clearinghouse SoundExchange. “I don’t really agree with that.” 

“No one’s really gone to the mat on that” by taking a case far enough to set precedential boundaries for what kinds of re-uses of already-licensed works require a distinct sync license, he said."

Taylor Swift trademarking her voice and likeness points to a new legal frontier in combating AI deepfakes; The Conversation, May 28, 2026

 Daryl Lim, Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Partnerships, Penn State, The Conversation; Taylor Swift trademarking her voice and likeness points to a new legal frontier in combating AI deepfakes

"As a law professor, I was struck by Swift’s filings because they highlight a new legal frontier in artificial intelligence.

Most AI-related litigation has centered on copyright law, which protects creative works such as songs, books, photographs and recordings from being copied, distributed, adapted or publicly performed without permission.

But TAS Rights Management’s recent move involves trademark law, not copyright. The filings aren’t really about protecting Swift’s lyrics or albums. Instead, they’re about preventing AI-generated voices and images from misleading people into believing she has endorsed a product, political message or cause."

CNN Sues AI Firm Perplexity For Copyright Infringement; Deadline, May 28, 2026

  Jill Goldsmith, Deadline; CNN Sues AI Firm Perplexity For Copyright Infringement

"CNN is the latest to sue Perplexity for copyright infringement, alleging the AI firm “has unlawfully copied over 10,000 CNN stories, videos, images, and other works to power its products and tools.”

The suit said the two sides tried but failed to reach an agreement in 2025 and Perplexity continued ripping off CNN content and claiming a relationship with the news network that does not exist despite repeated warnings that the moves are illegal."

Lawyers for January 6 defendants must face jury expert's copyright lawsuit; Reuters, May 26, 2026

 David Thomas, Reuters; Lawyers for January 6 defendants must face jury expert's copyright lawsuit

" Attorneys who represented defendants charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, must face copyright infringement lawsuits from a jury consultant who alleged they used her ​work without her permission, a federal judge ruled."

CBS walks back copyright claims on Stephen Colbert local access episode; USA TODAY, May 26, 2026

 Melina Khan,  USA TODAY ; CBS walks back copyright claims on Stephen Colbert local access episode

"CBS has backed off copyright claims about Stephen Colbert's surprise appearance on local access TV – at least for now.

On May 22, after signing off from "The Late Show," the comedian made an unexpected return to "Only in Monroe," a Michigan-based local access show. He once guest-hosted the show before taking over David Letterman's CBS spot in 2015.

But after Colbert's "Only in Monroe" appearance, CBS sparked backlash when it sent copyright notices to YouTube channels that were sharing the episode.

Now, the network is holding off on takedown notices pending further review, it said in a statement to USA TODAY."

Platner ad contained copyrighted material, Sox cable station says; Bangor Daily News, May 24, 2026

 Callie Ferguson , Bangor Daily News; Platner ad contained copyrighted material, Sox cable station says

"The Boston Red Sox cable station stopped airing a Graham Platner campaign ad that criticized the team’s ownership during Friday night’s game because it violated the network’s intellectual property rules, a representative said. 

The 15-second television spot, which blamed private equity for the team’s recent slump, “included unauthorized use of third-party intellectual property and did not comply with NESN’s advertising standards,” a spokesperson for the New England Sports Network said in a statement to the Bangor Daily News. Red Sox owner John Henry’s sports and entertainment conglomerate has a majority ownership stake in the network. 

The spokesperson did not specify which components of the ad broke the station’s rules, although it featured text closely resembling the Red Sox font. On Saturday, the Platner campaign released a statement implying that the ad’s messaging influenced the network’s decision to take it down."

Artist Sues Copyright Office Over its Refusal to Register His AI-Enhanced Photo; PetaPixel, May 23, 2026

Matt Growcoot, PetaPixel; Artist Sues Copyright Office Over its Refusal to Register His AI-Enhanced Photo

"After having his registration request rejected by the U.S. Copyright Office, the author of an image that combined a photograph with Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night is suing.

PetaPixel reported back in December 2023 that the Copyright Office had rejected Ankit Sahni’s bid to have his artwork officially registered. Now, a report by Copyright Lately reveals that Sahni, via his company Suryast U.S. Enterprises LLC, has filed a lawsuit in the Central District of California challenging the Office’s decision."

It’s a Copyright Lawsuit, Charlie Brown; The New York Times, May 21, 2026

 Aimee Ortiz, The New York Times; It’s a Copyright Lawsuit, Charlie Brown

"The owner of music used in “Peanuts” animated specials, including the memorable holiday classic “O Tannenbaum” and the unmistakable “Linus and Lucy” tunes, sued three companies and the U.S. Department of the Interior on Wednesday. It accused them of using its captivating bops in social media posts and a video game without permission.

Lee Mendelson Film Productions filed the copyright infringement suits in federal courts in New York and Washington, D.C. The songs are part of the programs that brought Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang from Charles Schulz’s comic strips off the page and into families’ living rooms...

According to the lawsuit, the Interior Department used “O Tannenbaum” from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in a digital holiday card posted in December to social media without permission."

Court Rules Against Anna’s Archive in Copyright Lawsuit; Publishers Weekly, May 21, 2026

   Jim Milliot, Publishers Weekly; Court Rules Against Anna’s Archive in Copyright Lawsuit

"Publishers scored a quick victory in their attempt to stop the pirate website Anna’s Archive from illegally copying and selling their copyrighted material.

In a decision handed down May 19, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Jed S. Rakoff issued a default judgment ordering the pirate website to immediately cease copying and distributing millions of files that it had illegally downloaded."

STEPHEN COLBERT USES COPYRIGHTED ‘PEANUTS’ MUSIC DURING FINALE: ‘I HOPE THIS DOESN’T COST CBS ANY MONEY!’; Rolling Stone, May 22, 2026

 ELISABETH GARBER-PAUL , Rolling Stone; STEPHEN COLBERT USES COPYRIGHTED ‘PEANUTS’ MUSIC DURING FINALE: ‘I HOPE THIS DOESN’T COST CBS ANY MONEY!’

"During the final episode of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert purposely used copyrighted music during a segment, a move that could potentially cost his former bosses at CBS a lot of dough if the music was unauthorized, and the usage were to end in a lawsuit.

“Peanuts is a powerful brand and corporation in and of itself. Anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the nose,” he said, before addressing his band leader, Louis Cato. “Louis, Louis! Is the band right now playing the same Peanuts music I just said people were being sued for, for using without permission? Is that what you’re doing?” The band was indeed launching into the familiar Vince Guaraldi song. “Oh no, I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money!” Colbert said."

How ‘learnrights’ would compensate creators for AI model training; MIT Sloan, May 12, 2026

 Brian Eastwood, MIT Sloan; How ‘learnrights’ would compensate creators for AI model training

"Human content creators are protected by copyright law, in part to ensure that they’re fairly compensated for their work. 

But whether these laws allow artificial intelligence models to learn from human-created content is up for debate — both in court and on Capitol Hill. Encyclopedia Britannica’s lawsuit against OpenAI, for example, is one of the latest allegations of misuse of reference materials. Meanwhile, the U.S. Copyright Office has not made a binding determination about whether using copyrighted works to train AI models is fair use.  

To deal with these issues, in 2023 MIT Sloan School of Management professor Thomas Malone proposed “learnright” laws that would give copyright holders the exclusive right to license their content to AI companies for model training. 

“Copyright law wasn’t designed for a world with generative AI, and without something like learnright laws, the incentives for people to create new content are likely to be greatly reduced,” said Malone, who is also the director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. 

In a more recent article, Malone and co-authors Frank Pasquale of Cornell Law School and Andrew Ting of George Washington University Law School outlined the argument for learnrights and described how they could work legally, economically, and practically...

Malone and his co-authors presented three arguments that support compensating copyright holders whose work is used to train generative AI. 

If AI models produce high-quality content quickly and cheaply without compensating the original creators of this content, that will decrease creators’ motivation to produce new content and thus reduce the volume of original work available to further improve AI models. “It would be unwise to risk such a decline in incentives for human expression,” the researchers write.

The researchers find it “troubling” that for-profit AI companies cry foul when others use their intellectual property — as was the case when U.S.-based AI firms accused China’s DeepSeek of stealing from them — given that the same companies use copyrighted content without compensating its creators. 

Properly acknowledging how other works influenced one’s own is the right thing to do and the foundation of a thoughtful creative process, the researchers write. Conversely, uncredited and uncompensated use of others’ work falls short of ethical standards and undermines what IP protection is supposed to mean."

Who Owns AI-Generated Content? Human Authorship Still Controls, and Documenting the Creation Process Is Critical; The National Law Review, May 13, 2026

 Lilian Doan Davis, Polsinelli PC,  The National Law Review; Who Owns AI-Generated Content? Human Authorship Still Controls, and Documenting the Creation Process Is Critical

"Practical Steps Companies Should Consider Now

Businesses using generative AI should consider a few immediate steps:

• Document human creative input. Preserve drafts, edits, source files and records showing who selected, arranged, revised or transformed AI outputs.
• Do not assume prompting establishes ownership. Prompt logs may help show process, but they are not a substitute for evidence of human-authored expression.
• Be precise in registration strategy. Applicants should disclose AI-generated material where required, identify the human author’s contribution and claim only the human-authored portions.
• Revisit contracts and internal policies. Vendor agreements, employee policies and content-development protocols should not assume that all AI-assisted output is fully protectable or exclusively owned in the same way as traditionally authored material.

Bottom Line

The law remains grounded in conventional copyright principles. The Copyright Office’s recent guidance and the D.C. Circuit’s decision in Thaler point in the same direction: copyright protection still turns on human authorship, even when AI is part of the process.

For businesses, the practical implication is not simply that some AI-generated works may be unprotectable. It is that ownership, registration and enforcement may depend on whether the company can later show what a human author actually contributed. In that sense, AI governance is also evidence governance."

Authors, publishers near final approval of $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement; Courthouse News Service, May 14, 2026

 MARGARET ATTRIDGE  , Courthouse News Service; Authors, publishers near final approval of $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement

"Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, a Joe Biden appointee, allowed objectors to address the court, where several spoke about the concerns they had with how the plaintiffs put together the eligible works list.

One class member told the judge that the works list undercounts the number of eligible works in the class by treating each copyright registration number as a single work, regardless of how many books are covered by the registration. The class member explained that she has certain group copyright registration numbers that include 40 separate, independently published novels under one registration number, all of which were downloaded by Anthropic without permission. However, under the current terms of the settlement agreement, the novels would be considered just one claimable work.

Another class member spoke to the exclusion of works that were published under a pseudonym, disadvantageous to small publishers and self-published authors in the class, while a third said they believed a one-time payment was not enough because Anthropic was continuing to profit off the copyrighted work they stole.

James H. Bartolomei III of Duncan Firm, an attorney representing four other objectors, asked the court to reopen the opt-out period as certain key documents from the case were only uploaded to the settlement website recently.

“Nothing I am asking for takes a dollar away from any class member who filed a claim. I’m not asking the court to stop the settlement from ever being approved. Just for sufficient information to make an informed choice,” he said."

Committee publishes Government response to AI and copyright report; UK Parliament, May 15, 2026

 UK Parliament; Committee publishes Government response to AI and copyright report

 "Chair’s response

Baroness Keeley, Chair of the Communications and Digital Committee, said:

“I am pleased that the Government’s response today confirms what it set out in March: that it no longer has a preference for introducing a broad copyright exception for AI training with an opt-out mechanism. It was clear that this approach would have been unworkable and placed an unfair burden on individual rightsholders. 

“The UK AI licensing market is emerging, and the Government now needs to create the conditions that will enable it to flourish. It can do this by ruling out any reform to copyright law that removes incentives to license, including proposals for a new commercial research exception, and committing to statutory transparency requirements for large AI developers. The Government says it will develop ‘best practice’ to encourage developers to be more transparent about the sources they use to train their models, but best practice alone will not promote licensing, drive compliance or enable robust enforcement. Only a mandatory framework will create the level playing field needed to foster responsible training data practices. 

“The coming months will be crucial in establishing a clear direction on AI and copyright for all stakeholders. The recently launched Sovereign AI Fund gives the Government the opportunity to insist on enhanced transparency and respect for copyright from the high-potential AI companies it supports. We will keep up a continued dialogue with Ministers to ensure that the Government is using all available levers, and demonstrating the necessary ambition, to drive meaningful progress on this issue.”

Senators Defend Copyright Office Independence as AI and Executive Overreach Dominate Oversight Hearing; IP Watchdog, May 13, 2026

 ROSE ESFANDIARI , IP Watchdog; Senators Defend Copyright Office Independence as AI and Executive Overreach Dominate Oversight Hearing

"Defending the Legislative Branch

The tension surrounding the Trump v. Perlmutter case surfaced during questioning. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) directly addressed the controversy, noting that while Perlmutter could not discuss pending litigation, she wanted to understand the historical value of the Copyright Office remaining within the legislative branch. Hirono referenced the fact that “President Trump tried to illegally fire you.”

Perlmutter responded carefully, highlighting the immense value of the Copyright Office acting as non-partisan expert advising Congress. She noted the Library of Congress serves as a natural home for the office given their overlapping missions, cautioning that moving the office to the executive branch would inevitably result in additional costs and disruption.

Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), speaking as the ranking member of the Rules Committee, defended the agency’s independence. He reminded the subcommittee that Trump had not only attempted to fire Perlmutter but had also fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, attempting to install his own Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, in her place. Padilla characterized this as a failed “power grab” and a “clear assault” on the legislative branch. He emphasized that as Congress considers legislation to change appointment structures, it must ensure the Copyright Office remains protected from political interference.

Artificial Intelligence Challenge

Chairman Thom Tillis (R-NC) emphasized the delicate balance required in the artificial intelligence environment, as “there would not be anything to ingest for the training of AI models if it had not been for copyright law, which has encouraged the creation of content…and while there’s no question that the U.S. is in an AI race with China, the U.S. should not be in a race to the bottom.”"

Canada Targets AI Copyright Rules While Weighing Social Media Age Restrictions — Web Summit; Deadline, May 12, 2026

 Stewart Clarke , Deadline; Canada Targets AI Copyright Rules While Weighing Social Media Age Restrictions — Web Summit

"The Canadian government is preparing new rules on how copyright holders should be compensated when their work is used by AI systems, as it also weighs age restrictions on social media and tighter regulation of AI chatbots.

Evan Solomon, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, was speaking at Web Summit Vancouver."

At the AAP’s Annual Meeting, Talk of AI, Copyright, and ‘Ripples of Hope’; Publishing Perspectives, May 12, 2026

  Andrew Albanese, Publishing Perspectives; At the AAP’s Annual Meeting, Talk of AI, Copyright, and ‘Ripples of Hope’

"The Association of American Publishers hosted its annual meeting on May 7, with a program that used the 250th birthday of the United States to celebrate the central role of publishing and copyright in the nation’s history.

The 90-minute virtual program featured Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and presidential biographer Jon Meacham, in conversation with his editor, Andy Ward, Executive Vice President and Publisher at Random House, and Stanford University copyright scholar and author Paul Goldstein, who joined AAP president and CEO Maria Pallante, for a conversation about copyright law on the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Copyright Act."

Shein accuses Temu of copyright infringement on 'industrial scale'; Quartz, May 11, 2026

 Colleen Cabili , Quarz; Shein accuses Temu of copyright infringement on 'industrial scale'

"Shein accused rival Temu of copyright infringement "on an industrial scale" as a two-week trial opened Monday at London's High Court, with Temu firing back that the lawsuit was designed to stifle competition rather than protect intellectual property."

Dua Lipa sues Samsung for $15 million for allegedly using her image to sell TVs; Reuters, May 11, 2026

 Rhea Rose Abraham , Reuters; Dua Lipa sues Samsung for $15 million for allegedly using her image to sell TVs

"British pop star ‌Dua Lipa has filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics seeking at least $15 million in damages, accusing the South Korean tech giant of using her image without permission to market its television sets.

The lawsuit ​alleges that Samsung featured a copyrighted image of the pop star on ​the front of cardboard boxes containing televisions for retail sale, enabling the company ⁠to benefit from what seemed like her endorsement of the product."

Sony’s failed war against Internet piracy may doom other copyright lawsuits; Ars Technica, May 11, 2026

 JON BRODKIN, Ars Technica ; Sony’s failed war against Internet piracy may doom other copyright lawsuits

"Sony and other major record labels recently suffered a thorough defeat at the Supreme Court in their attempt to make Internet service providers pay huge financial penalties for their customers’ copyright infringement. Sony’s loss is certain to have wide-ranging effects on copyright lawsuits, offering protection for ISPs, their customers, and potentially other technology companies whose services can be used for both legal and illegal purposes.

In Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment, the Supreme Court ruled that cable Internet firm Cox is not liable under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when its customers use their broadband connections to download or upload pirated materials."