3 Count: Embed This

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1: AI Company Can Seek Fast Appeal In Copyright Battle With Thomson Reuters, Judge Rules

First off today, Wendy Davis at MediaPost reports that a federal judge is allowing Artificial Intelligence company Ross Intelligence to immediately seek an appeal in its ongoing case against Thomson Reuters.

Reuters sued Ross over alleged copyright infringement of the Reuters-owned Westlaw database. According to Reuters, Ross illegally trained an AI system on Westlaw “headnotes,” which are Reuters-created summaries of legal cases and opinions.

The judge ruled in favor of Reuters, denying that the training was fair use. However, the judge is granting Ross immediate leave to appeal, noting that there are “substantial grounds for difference of opinion on controlling legal issues in this case.”

2: Tesla Can’t Dodge Copyright Claims From ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Producers — Yet

Next up today, Edvard Pettersson at Courthouse News Service reports that U.S. District Judge George Wu has denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against Tesla, saying that the defendant has not done enough to dispose of the “literal copying” theory.

Alcon Entertainment filed the lawsuit, claiming that Tesla used imagery from the film Blade Runner 2049 in its recent marketing event for the Cybercab. However, there is a dispute about whether the image in question was generated using AI or traditional image editing techniques.

The judge in the case has indicated that if the image were generated using AI, it would warrant dismissal, as Alcon’s allegations focus on literal copying. However, since it is unclear if AI was used, the case continues, at least for now.

3: Does Embedding an Instagram Violate Copyright? A Photographer Wants the Supreme Court to Decide

Finally today, Hillary K. Grigonis at Digital Cameral World reports that photographer Elliot McGucken has asked the Supreme Court to examine whether unauthorized image embedding is a copyright infringement.

McGucken filed the lawsuit alleging that Valnet had infringed the rights to his images by embedding them via Instagram. However, both the lower court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Valnet, saying that the use was not an infringement.

To reach that conclusion, the lower courts used the server test, which found that the liability lies solely with the server on which the image resides, in this case, Instagram. However, McGucken argued that this violates his right to display the work. He also notes that other circuits have eschewed the server test in favor of an examination of the end result.

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