🚨BREAKING: Federal judge concludes that using copyrighted works to train generative A.I. is transformative and ultimately a fair use. (Nevertheless, Anthropic can’t beat the lawsuit because it pirated books for another purpose too.) First of kind ruling. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...

“no coincidence [Trump] acted less than a day after [Perlmutter] refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.” www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

I bet this list of law firms signing onto an amicus brief in support of Perkins Coie will be passed around by law students. They’ll note the absentees. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

12 copyright infringement actions vs. OpenAI and Microsoft will be consolidated to one court in Southern District of New York storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Thrilled to be hosting the 2nd Annual Vanderbilt Music Law Summit tomorrow! Featuring panels on streaming fraud and the future of PROs, a keynote from Concord CEO Bob Valentine, an update from the Copyright Office, and more. ⬇️ Check it out here: law.vanderbilt.edu/music-law-su...

Extremely proud to be a Jenner alum

To state the obvious, Jenner is drawing a VERY sharp contrast with Paul Weiss and other Big Law firms capitulating to Trump. They're mounting a full-court press against the administration with the coordinated lawsuit and statement declaring their intent to fight this to the end and win. Refreshing!

Read Jenner & Block's lawsuit challenging Trump's unconstitutional assault on their firm.👇 Very glad to see Jenner fighting back. They're represented by Cooley, which is taking a risk here too. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

I have been looking forward to this Passover graphic novel for years, ever since I first heard the idea from Dara Horn. Can't wait to finally read it!

The lead prosecutor on the Adams investigation - Hagan Scotten - resigns from SDNY. “I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion [to dismiss Adams charges]. But it was never going to me.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This tracks with everything I've covered for years. It's not in people's heads: America is getting more antisemitic, and that starts with the young. When people focus on antisemitic politicians, they need to grasp that in a democracy, those politicians are downstream from voters.

Man I wish I were Noone

Like Universal, Warner now also sidesteps Spotify's "bundled" payouts under the statutory mechanical license by entering into a direct deal with it. variety.com/2025/digital...

This is a very good explanation of a very dense topic. Copyright folks, if you're not already following @wordsbykristin.bsky.social, you should be.

Sorry @apublicgood.bsky.social but I won’t miss this gif

Following Chappell Roan's Grammy speech, I've seen a few people advocating for "fair wages" for recording artists, including proposals to make them employees. There's lots of ways record companies should be doing better, but I'd caution against recording artists being employees.

I'm pleased to have contributed to this @bloomberglaw.com video explainer on music copyright disputes. If you'd like a concise summary of the Ed Sheeran case (or just a palate cleanser from the rest of your timeline these days), check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVPM...

Last week, a court dismissed the MLC's lawsuit against Spotify over its bundling of music+audiobooks. MLC called it a sham to reduce music royalties, but court ruled the governing reg clearly allowed it. Meanwhile, UMG sidesteps the issue via a direct deal. news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/spoti...

Superman's airspace restricted to the U.S.? www.wsj.com/business/med...

Spotify + UMG made a deal which sources say helps pay UMPG + its songwriters better than b4. Good for them. This opens the door for other big pubs + their writers to get similar deals. Also, good...but what about the indies? Do they get left behind? My analysis: www.billboard.com/pro/spotify-...

You used to call me on my self-own

This is a really, really good explainer on the Miley Cyrus motion to dismiss in the Flowers lawsuit, & the mess that is 9th Cir law on when a copyright co-owner can sue an alleged infringer without the the other co-owners’ involvement

Starting soon!

Excited to be in Chicago for the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society, where I’ll be speaking about forensic musicologists’ increasingly significant role in music copyright disputes. chicago2024.ams-net.org

⬇️ (still true)

My op-ed on TN's ELVIS Act bill was published today in The Tennessean. Bottom line: the cause is just! But the bill is broader than it needs to be. As currently drafted it would cover innocuous activities having nothing to do with AI. www.tennessean.com/story/opinio...

Sooo, my FB account was disabled for…copyright violations? I am highly confused b/c (1) I would *never* (2) I don’t even post anymore! The form letter doesn’t say what activity caused the suspension, & the only reply allowed is basically “tell us why we’re wrong.” Anyone ever deal w/ this before?

My students already know how much I like to talk about IP and Taylor Swift. This time, I got to talk about them with @usatoday.com, too!

Local paper just awarded best barista to one “Mark Lemley.” @marklemley.bsky.social, I assume it was based on citation count.

Love the new place, just going to need a while to get it properly furnished