3 Count: Lawyer Fight

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1: ACC Sues the L Suite for Copyright Infringement in Product Promotion

First off today, Jacqueline So at Lexpert reports that the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) has filed a lawsuit against The L Suite, an online network for general counsel and chief legal officers.

According to the lawsuit, The L Suite used various slogans and phrases trademarked by the ACC, as well as a benchmarking report and other promotional content. In addition to the L Suite’s website, the lawsuit alleges that the material was also shared on YouTube and LinkedIn.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Delaware, alleges both trademark infringement and copyright infringement as well as unfair competition. It seeks both injunctive relief and unspecified damages.

2: Sayani Gupta’s Aasmani Cleared of Copyright Infringement Allegations by SWA

Next up today, Bollywood Hungama reports that Sayani Gupta, an Indian actress, recently had her directorial debut with the film Aasmani. However, she faced an allegation that the film was a copyright infringement of an unreleased documentary. Now, the Screenwriters Association’s (SWA) Dispute Settlement Committee (DSC) has cleared the film and Gupta of any wrongdoing.

The claim was filed against both Gupta and the film’s editor Paramita Ghosh. The claim alleged that Aasamani was too similar to the unreleased documentary. However, the DSC found that the films only shared the underlying idea and that copyright law only protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself.

The DSC also noted a parallel defamation case filed by Gupta that had been resolved in her favor. As such, the decision brings the SWA dispute to a close, though it is unclear if either party will pursue action in other courts.

3: Apple Faces Unique Copyright Infringement Lawsuit

Finally today, James B. Astrachan at The Daily Record reports that Apple is facing an unusual copyright infringement lawsuit, this one brought by one of its own investors.

The lawsuit was filed by Phil Rosen, an Apple investor who is claiming that Apple is devaluing his company’s shares by using copyrighted material to train various AI models. He claims that, rather than using “clean data,” Apple opted instead to use pirated content from a variety of sources.

Though the claim is unusual, with so many lawsuits over AI training ongoing, it’s unlikely that this one will be heard until the air has cleared. As such, Rosen could have a very long wait ahead of him.

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