3 Count: 3% Support

Have any suggestions for the 3 Count? Let me know via Twitter @plagiarismtoday.

1: Judge Advances Digital Publisher Ziff Davis’ ChatGPT Copyright Infringement Claims

First off today, Josh Russell at Courthouse News Service reports that a federal judge has advanced three of the copyright claims brought by digital publisher Ziff Davis against OpenAI.

Ziff Davis operates a variety of digital news websites. It filed the lawsuit accusing OpenAI of illegally scraping its content to train its various AI systems, most notably ChatGPT. OpenAI filed a motion to dismiss, and though the court did toss several claims, it allowed three to move forward.

Those claims include contributory copyright infringement and the removal of copyright management information. However, the judge dismissed a claim of circumvention of technological measures, noting that robots.txt is not an effective technological measure to control copyright-protected works.

2: CoStar, Zillow Copyright Infringement Case Makes the Move Out West

Next up today, Brooklee Han at HousingWire reports that the CoStar/Zillow case is being transferred from New York City to Seattle following a recent judge’s decision.

CoStar is a real estate information organization that is currently suing Zillow, alleging that the site used images CoStar owns in ads and listings. Zillow has claimed that users uploaded the pictures and that it is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. CoStar, however, alleges that Zillow used the images outside the bounds of the original upload, including in ads for Zillow services.

CoStar originally filed the case in New York, though Zillow has argued it should be moved to Seattle, which is closer to its headquarters and to many of the witnesses involved. CoStar dropped its objection to the relocation, and the judge has now authorized the case to be moved.

3: Boost for Artists in AI Copyright Battle As Only 3% Back UK Active Opt-Out Plan

Finally, today, Robert Booth at The Guardian reports that, in the UK, people submitted over 10,000 comments to the government regarding potential copyright reforms to permit the use of protected works for AI training. Of those comments submitted, 95% said human works should be protected from AI training, and only 3% supported the proposed opt-out regime.

To be clear, the regime was already dead. Ministers dropped it previously due to an intense backlash from local artists and copyright-related groups. If it had gone forward, it would have allowed AI companies to train on copyright-protected content unless the owners specifically opted out.

According to activists, the comments further highlight how little support there is for such a regime and that most UK residents want AI companies to pay for and license the content they use.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.