It Sure Looks Like Trump Watches Are Breaking Copyright Law; Wired, October 18, 2024

 Matt Giles, Wired; It Sure Looks Like Trump Watches Are Breaking Copyright Law

"According to the Associated Press, though, TheBestWatchesonEarth LLC advertised a product it can’t deliver, as that image is owned by the 178-year-old news agency. This week, the AP told WIRED it is pursuing a cease and desist against the LLC, which is registered in Sheridan, Wyoming. (The company did not reply to a request for comment about the cease and desist letter.)

Evan Vucci, the AP’s Pulitzer Prize–winning chief photographer, took that photograph, and while he told WIRED he does not own the rights to that image, the AP confirmed earlier this month in an email to WIRED that it is filing the written notice. “AP is proud of Evan Vucci’s photo and recognizes its impact,” wrote AP spokesperson Nicole Meir. “We reserve our rights to this powerful image, as we do with all AP journalism, and continue to license it for editorial use only.”"

‘It’s not me, it’s just my face’: the models who found their likenesses had been used in AI propaganda; The Guardian, October 16, 2024

 Manisha Ganguly, The Guardian; ‘It’s not me, it’s just my face’: the models who found their likenesses had been used in AI propaganda

"These videos are fake. They were generated with artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a startup based in east London. The company, Synthesia, has created a buzz in an industry racing to perfect lifelike AI videos. Investors have poured in cash, catapulting it into “unicorn” status – a label for a private company valued at more than $1bn.

Synthesia’s technology is aimed at clients looking to create marketing material or internal presentations, and any deepfakes are a breach of its terms of use. But this means little to the models whose likenesses are behind the digital “puppets” that were used in propaganda videos such as those apparently supporting Burkina Faso’s dictator. The Guardian tracked down five of them."

Public Symposium on AI and IP; United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Wednesday, March 27, 2024 10 AM - 3 PM PT/1 PM - 6 PM ET

 United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO); Public Symposium on AI and IP

"The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Emerging Technologies (ET) Partnership will hold a public symposium on intellectual property (IP) and AI. The event will take place virtually and in-person at Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University, in Los Angeles, California, on March 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. PT. 

The symposium will facilitate the USPTO’s efforts to implement its obligations under the President’s Executive Order (E.O.) 14110 “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” The event will include representation from the Copyright Office, build on previous AI/Emerging Technologies (ET) partnership events, and feature panel discussions by experts in the field of patent, trademark, and copyright law that focus on:

1. A comparison of copyright and patent law approaches to the type and level of human contribution needed to satisfy authorship and inventorship requirements;
2. Ongoing copyright litigation involving generative AI; and 
3. A discussion of laws and policy considerations surrounding name, image, and likeness (NIL) issues, including the intersection of NIL and generative AI.

This event is free and open to the public, but in-person attendance is limited, so register early"