3 Count: Finland Controversy

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1: YouTube Creators Step Into Legal Battle Against OpenAI With Class Action Lawsuit

First off today, Winston Cho at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that OpenAI is facing yet another copyright infringement class action lawsuit, this one filed by a YouTuber whose video transcriptions were used to train AI systems.

David Millette filed the lawsuit in San Francisco. It follows an April report in the New York Times, which said that OpenAI used more than a million hours of YouTube video to train AI systems.

According to the lawsuit, this was a violation of YouTube’s terms of service and other claims. However, the lawsuit does not mention copyright, which is an interesting move as other lawsuits have already determined that copyright bars such claims and takes precedence over anything that overlaps with it.

2: Finland Slashes Private Copying Compensation, Sparking Creative Industries Backlash

Next up today, Chris Cooke at Complete Music Update reports that the Finnish government has decided to reduce the compensation for private copying from €11 million to €5.5 million ($12 million to $6 million), drawing criticism from musicians and songwriters.

In most countries, users have a copyright exemption to make private copies of protected works. However, that has often come with some regime for reimbursing creators for said copying. Historically, this has taken the form of a tax on blank media, such as CD-Rs and cassette tapes. However, as the world moved to digital media, that tax was placed on cell phones and similar devices.

Other countries, including Finland, opted for a more direct approach. They created a direct government-backed compensation fund. However, the country is now slashing that fund in half. Creators complain that this could have dire impacts on local music and may be in violation of European law.

3: Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin Sued For Copyright Infringement Over Social Media Post

Finally today, Cole Thompson at Sports Illustrated reports that the Ole Miss head football coach, Lane Kiffin, is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over a pair of tweets.

Author and frequent litigant Dr. Keith Bell filed the lawsuit. He claims that, in 2016 and 2022, Kiffin posted a passage from his book, “Winning Isn’t Normal,” on social media without permission.

He is claiming one count of copyright infringement for the 2022 tweet. Bell is a frequent litigant, having filed multiple lawsuits over this passage. However, his success has been mixed, with some courts ruling that the publication was a fair use.

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