3 Count: Bard Battle

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1: Google Hit with Class-Action Lawsuit Over AI Data Scraping

First off today, Blake Brittain at Reuters reports that a group of unidentified authors have filed a class action lawsuit against Google, alleging that the search giant misused both their work and their data in training their AI system, Bard.

The individuals were only identified by their initials, they claim that Google used information shared on Google platforms as well as other social media sites to train Bard, even though the company did not have permission to do so. The lawsuit goes on to allege that Google could owe as much as $5 billion in damages.

The lawsuit is seeking class action status, hoping to represent millions of potential plaintiffs in one case. Among the content they say Google misused is Spotify playlists, content from dating websites, and at least one author’s complete book.

2: French News Groups Take Twitter to Court Over Digital Copyright

Next up today, RFI reports that three of France’s largest newspaper groups have filed a lawsuit with Twitter, claiming that the social media site has not reached a deal for the use of their content on the platform.

The issue is a 2019 EU directive, which is now part of French law, that grants newspapers “neighboring rights” in their work. These rights ensure that, when newspaper content is reproduced digitally in any way, including when being shared on social media, the rightholders are compensated.

According to the lawsuit, Twitter has ignored multiple requests to negotiate licensing fees. They further claim that both Facebook and Google have reached deals with publishers, leaving Twitter as the last holdout among the large social networking platforms. The papers are hoping that the courts can force Twitter to come to the table and provide the information they need to calculate a licensing fee.

3: Writer and Translator Will File Legal Claim Against British Museum For Copyright Infringement

Finally today, Karen K. Ho at ARTnews reports that a Canadian translator claims to have raised enough money to hire a lawyer to file a claim against the British Museum over the alleged misuse of her some of her translations.

The story began in June when the translator, Yilin Wang, accused the museum of using her translations of Qiu Jin’s poetry as part of an exhibition at the museum. The museum, for their part, removed the works in question “as an act of good faith until the matter is resolved.”

However, Wang took to the crowdfunding site CrowdJustice to raise money to bring a legal case forward. She has raised £17,380 ($22,400) and, with that money, hired a solicitor specializing in intellectual property issues and aims to bring the case before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court in London.

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