3 Count: Grand Theft Copyright

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1: Sony Music, Warner Sue Anthropic, Alleging a “Brazen Campaign” of Intellectual Property Theft

First off today, Kirsten Korosec at TechCrunch reports that a group of music publishers, including Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell Music, have filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic, accusing the AI company of a “brazen campaign” of copyright infringement in training its AI models.

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in the Northern District of California, it accuses Anthropic of using their songs to train various AI models. The lawsuit alleges that not only was the training itself infringing, but that Anthropic engaged in piracy to obtain the songs.

Anthropic has denied the allegations and said that they will defend themselves vigorously. The lawsuit joins another filed by music publishers, including Concord Music Group and Universal Music Group, over Anthropic’s alleged infringement.

2: Luigui Bleand Ordered to Pay $1.2 Million in Music Copyright Case

Next up today, Camila Curcio at Law Commentary reports that musician Luigui Bleand and two connected companies have been ordered to pay $1.2 million in damages after a federal court found that they had infringed on the copyrights of some 40 sound recordings and related compositions.

The result stems from an agreement that Bleand reached with a series of Latin record labels and publishers. According to the lawsuit, Bleand represented a band named Harley Boys and sold the rights to their music to Warner Music Latina and ADA Latin. However, according to the publishers who filed the lawsuit, Bleand did not have the right to do so.

The decision was made at the summary judgment stage of the case. Initially, it appeared that the two sides were reaching a settlement, but the talks collapsed and the defense attorneys withdrew from the case. None of the defendants have participated in the litigation since then though Bleand has denied any wrongdoing.

3: Take-Two Says GTA 6 Leak Probe Is “Rapidly Evolving,” Wants New Discord Demands Under Seal

Finally today, Ernesto Van der Sar at TorrentFreak writes that Take-Two Interactive has informed a federal court that its investigation in the leaks related to the upcoming game Grand Theft Auto VI is “rapidly evolving” and is asking the court to keep a DMCA subpoena filed against Discord under seal.

The story began two weeks ago when a leaker who calls themselves Cyberleek, posted unreleased GTA 6 footage on various platforms. This prompted Take-Two to file DMCA takedown notices against many of those platforms, seeking to get the unauthorized content removed.

In addition to the takedown notices, Take-Two also filed DMCA subpoenas in an attempt to get information about the leaker. The company is dropping its subpoena with YouTube but is moving forward with the subpoena against Discord. It is asking the court to keep that subpoena under seal, saying that the investigation is ongoing.

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