Copyright
July 8, 2024
Standards-developing organizations like ASTM, NFPA, and ASHRAE, though non-profit, often recoup costs by selling copies of their standards. However, when they sought to block another non-profit, Public.Resource.Org, Inc., from sharing legal materials freely online, they learned that Public Resource’s sharing is fair use. That is, yes, although verbatim copies were shared, certain copying is considered fair use, for the public good. (In addition, Public Resource transformed the words by making them searchable, printable, and magnifiable, like a 2023 consumer expects.) Am. Soc'y for Testing & Materials v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., 82 F.4th 1262 (D.C. Cir. 2023)
This seems right, doesn’t it? Imagine trying to engineer a product but being blocked from knowing the ASTM standards…
Check out the Public.Resource.Org page below. It’s pretty useful.
December 5, 2023
Much like AI, celestial beings cannot be granted a copyright for the messages they share with humans. Yes, this was discussed in a real case in 1997.
However, the person(s) who receives the messages from celestial beings and compiles them in a publication can claim copyright protection.
Urantia Foundation v. Kristen Maaherra (114 F. 3d 955 - Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, 1997)
October 3, 2023
Generative AI cannot be a registrant for copyright purposes. But it may be liable for copyright infringement. Stable Diffusion crawls the web - especially Getty Images - and learns from the original to generate new images that might infringe the rights of the copyright holder. These cases are still moving through the courts, but some of the AI-generated work might be infringing. Even worse, Stable Diffusion also generates bizarre or grotesque images with the Getty trademark, which tarnishes the Getty name. Look closely at the image, taken from the pleadings in: Getty Images (US), Inc. v Stability AI, Inc., D. Del., No. 1:99-mc-09999, filed February 3, 2023. There is a lot of crossover between copyright and trademark law!
August 1, 2023
A little boy dancing to Prince's song "Let's Go Crazy" didn’t know it, but he was responsible for some important copyright fair use law.