3 Count: Egregious Debate

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1: Grande Slams Labels’ “Egregious” Piracy Claims in Final Supreme Court Plea

First off today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak reports that Grande Communications has filed its final brief with the Supreme Court, stating that the record labels invented the term “egregious infringement” despite no established legal standard for the term.

Grande Communications was sued by the major record labels, who alleged that the ISP failed to take adequate steps to reduce piracy on its network. A jury sided with the labels in late 2022, awarding them $47 million in damages. The Appeals Court upheld the infringement ruling, but overturned the damages award.

This prompted both sides to appeal to the Supreme Court. Now, with their final brief, Grande is claiming that there is no standard for egregious infringement and that they should not be liable for failure to terminate the accounts of alleged repeat infringers. Grande also cites a similar case against Cox Communications, which is also before the Supreme Court.

2: Delhi Court Issues Notice to Mohak Mangal, Google in Fresh ANI Copyright Case

Next up today, BuzzInContent reports that Asian News International (ANI) has filed a new copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTuber Mohak Mangal and Google LLC, alleging copyright infringement of ANI-produced content.

The lawsuit comes after Mangal released a video entitled I’m Mohak and I’m Not Scared. In the video, he detailed what he claimed were copyright abuses by ANI. He alleged that the company misused YouTube’s copyright strike system to extort money from YouTubers, such as himself, who made fair use of ANI content.

Initially, ANI filed a defamation lawsuit against Mangal. However, this latest accusation alleges that Mangal has violated ANI’s copyrights and trademarks. In addition to Mangal, the lawsuit also targets YouTube itself, though details about what YouTube is accused of are unclear.

3: Elton John, ‘We’ve Got Your Back’ – Says Minister After He Slams Government as ‘Losers’ in AI Copyright Row

Finally today, Nicholas Cecil at The Standard reports that musician Elton John recently called UK ministers “absolute losers” for their handling of artificial intelligence. This prompted one of those ministers, Creative Industries Minister Chris Bryant, to say that he has artists’ backs.

The UK government recently attempted to pass a controversial AI bill that would have made it broadly legal for AI companies to train on copyrighted works. However, the bill was scrapped after a battle between the two chambers of the UK Parliament.

Now, the ruling Labour Party has announced that it is revisiting this bill and hopes to create a new one soon. In the meantime, artists are continuing to pressure ministers to protect human-created works from AI use.

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