On 8 July 2024, the Hong Kong government launched a two-month public consultation on potential revisions to the Copyright Ordinance (Cap. 528) in view of the rapid developments in artificial intelligence (“AI”), especially generative AI. The 52-page consultation
Copyright
Concepts, creative ideas and copyright protection: Buster, The Brave Little Wooden Boat illustrating the limits of causal connection and copyright protection
By Georgina Hey & Jerome Messiha
Content developers and creatives are generators of ideas and concepts. The point at which any concept transforms into a copyright protected work is often a vexed issue in the creative (and other) spaces.
A…
United States Supreme Court sidesteps discovery rule question and allows copyright owners to recover damages without time limit
The Copyright Act provides that a copyright owner must bring an infringement claim within three years of its accrual. See 17 U. S. C. §507(b). In Warner Chappell Music, Inc., et al., Petitioners v. Sherman Nealy, et al., 601…
Who is liable when an artificial intelligence system infringes copyright – a missed opportunity by the PRC Court
In our previous newsletter here, we reported a decision from the Beijing Internet Court ruling that the copyright of a portrait generated by an artificial intelligence (“AI”) program is owned by the user who “controlled meticulously” the parameters for…
Trade Secrets Triumph: Mega RMB201.54m Verdict
On January 17, 2024, the Supreme People’s Court of China (“SPC”) published its decision upholding a ruling in favor of Sennics Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. (“Sennics”), granting them an award of RMB 201.54 million (around USD…
Is that picture your creation or the AI program’s – an age-old question revisited
The copyright eligibility of computer-generated literature and artistic works is not, contrary to what many may think, a post-millennial question. In a case decided as early as 1985 [1], in a time long before the internet era, the English…
Who’s in control? Liability for copyright infringement by contractors and software developers
The High Court recently delivered its decision in Real Estate Tool Box v Campaigntrack 1 relating to copyright authorisation.
The High Court held that the appellants, who had engaged a third party software developer to create a real estate…
Is “A Change [] Gonna Come”?: Music Publishers Sue AI Startup Anthropic for Copyright Infringement
The Lawsuit
Another week, another lawsuit against generative AI. This time, a group of music publishing companies, including Concord Music Group, Inc., ABCKO Music, Inc., and Universal Music Group (“Plaintiffs”) sued AI start-up Anthropic PBC (“Anthropic”) on October 18, 2023…
U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case on Application of the Discovery Rule on Damages
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a case this term to decide whether a copyright plaintiff can recover damages for acts that occurred more than three years after the filing of a lawsuit. The case is poised…