The Ninth Circuit just affirmed Kat Von D’s win in the Miles Davis tattoo case—but two judges questioned whether the court’s longstanding “total concept and feel” test should survive at all. Is en banc next? Full story up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/kat-von-d-ta...

Before you close the books on 2025, here’s one more year-end list: my annual countdown of the year’s worst copyright decisions. Five cases. No spoilers. Let the debates begin. Up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/the-5-worst-...

Public Domain Day 2026 is almost here. On January 1, a new crop of works become free to use in the U.S.—ready to remix, recycle, or repurpose into B-grade horror films and ill-advised erotica. My annual roundup covers 150+ of them: copyrightlately.com/public-domai...

A bumper crop of soon-to-be-freely-available works: "Public Domain Day 2026 Is Coming: Here’s What to Know," from @copyrightlately.bsky.social (Plus- Winter Holidays with @jstordaily.bsky.social, Radiohead, and The Kinks) Makin' a list: roughlydaily.com/2025/12/20/t...

Public Domain Day 2026 is almost here. On January 1, works from 1930—including Miss Marple, Animal Crackers, and The Little Engine That Could—enter the U.S. public domain. Expect celebration, confusion, and at least one Betty Boop slasher film. Sorry in advance. copyrightlately.com/public-domai...

As NBC used to say when advertising 'Friends' reruns back in the 90s: If you haven't seen it, it's new to you! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! copyrightlately.com/a-five-cours...

Oof.

SDNY just held that AI “substitutive summaries” — non-verbatim outputs that mirror a story’s expressive structure and journalistic choices — may plausibly infringe copyright. Big case for AI + news. Full story on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/court-rules-...

President Trump just raised tariffs on Canada over a Reagan ad quoting Reagan's anti-tariff views. Is there a copyright issue? The answer may depend which side of the border you're on. Full story up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/reagan-found...

French Montana just won a six-year lawsuit because a teenage producer supposedly registered only a sound recording copyright—not the underlying composition. But what if his registration covered both—and nobody realized it? Full story on Copyright Lately⬇️ copyrightlately.com/how-french-m...

FWIW, it looks like they're actually going EXTRA restrictive at the moment. Example: I just asked Sora 2 to "Show me a funny video of a yellow cartoon dad that likes beer and donuts" and I got back "This content may violate our guardrails concerning similarity to third-party content."

Facing backlash, OpenAI reverses course: rightsholders will decide whether their characters can appear in Sora 2, with revenue sharing for those who opt in. But will copyright owners hand over their IP to be freely manipulated for a slice of ad revenue? copyrightlately.com/openai-backt...

What a wild week in AI and copyright. Just three days after launching its new Sora 2 AI video app with a brazen policy that let users create videos featuring copyrighted characters unless rightsholders explicitly opted out, OpenAI has slammed the brakes.

My Q&A with Puck's Matt Belloni, and why OpenAI's Sora 2 might be Hollywood's biggest copyright test since YouTube. Up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/sora-2-copyr... @mattbelloni.bsky.social

I tested OpenAI’s new Sora 2 video app. Within minutes I was generating branded cartoon clips. Hollywood’s AI headache just got animated. copyrightlately.com/new-sora-ai-...

An artist claimed concept art for Disney's new Lion King ride infringed her concept art for a new Lion King ride—which was itself based on Disney's Lion King. It didn't work out so well. Full story up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/pride-rock-p...

Fair use wins, exclusivity loses, the Ninth Circuit finally publishes, and the future of a psychic network’s lawsuit looks hazy. Time to catch up. copyrightlately.com/whats-up-wit...

Anthropic's $1.5 billion copyright settlement is simultaneously groundbreaking and trivial, a paradox that reveals how AI has fundamentally altered the economics of copyright infringement. Full story up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/anthropic-se...

Trump just lost a copyright lawsuit claiming ownership over his own recorded words in the Woodward interviews. Full story, up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/trump-loses-copyright-fight-over-woodward-interview-recordings/

Great @copyrightlately.bsky.social essay on the different approaches taken in last week's AI copyright infringement opinions by Alsup & Chhabria. copyrightlately.com/apprentice-o...

Should copyright protect creative output—or the humans who create it? Two judges just revealed the philosophical fault line that will define AI's legal future. Full story, up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/apprentice-o...

Ethan Klein once defended reaction videos as fair use. Now he’s suing Twitch streamers for barely reacting at all. Bong rips, blank stares, and bathroom breaks take center stage in the year's most ironic copyright lawsuit. Up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/ethan-klein-...

"Show, Don't Tell" takes center stage in Disney & Universal's lawsuit against Midjourney. After 40+ AI copyright cases got stuck on training data, this one puts the outputs front and center. Full story and why it matters, up now on @copyrightlately: copyrightlately.com/why-the-stud... #copyright #AI

A constitutional showdown over who controls the Copyright Office heads to court tomorrow. Full story now on Copyright Lately. copyrightlately.com/perlmutters-...

The day before Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter was fired, the Copyright Office quickly and quietly dropped a major report on AI and fair use. I break down the timing, the fallout, and my 5 biggest takeaways—up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/copyright-of...

With tariffs, trade wars, and treaty tensions dominating the headlines, it’s only fitting that an international copyright flare-up has landed in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Check out my “amicus blog” on why the court needs to reverse Vetter v. Resnik. copyrightlately.com/fifth-circui...

NEW: A high-stakes copyright battle over To Kill a Mockingbird is quietly unfolding in the 2nd and 7th Circuits, testing the limits of the important but rarely litigated “derivative works exception” to copyright termination. Up now on Copyright Lately: 🔗 copyrightlately.com/to-kill-a-te...

I was busy switching firms. The courts were busy issuing copyright rulings. Here's everything I missed over the past 3 weeks—Rule 11 sanctions, AI lawsuits, disco flashbacks, and more—all tidied up in one place before I sweep them behind the couch. copyrightlately.com/whats-up-spr... #copyright

An LA jury needed less than 3 hours to clear Disney’s Buena Vista unit of copyright infringement—so why did it take 5 years and millions in legal fees to get there? With another no-access verdict in the books, it’s time for a more efficient approach. copyrightlately.com/moana-verdic...

After five years of litigation, a jury in LA will decide whether Disney’s 'Moana' infringed an unproduced project called 'Bucky the Surfer Boy.' Here’s what to expect as another copyright trial begins—and why it’s happening at all. Up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/disneys-moan...

Judge Bibas reverses course in the first copyright case on AI training and fair use. What happened—and what does it mean for gen AI, copyright, and the legal battles ahead? Some thoughts on Thomson Reuters v. Ross Intelligence, up now on Copyright Lately. copyrightlately.com/ai-training-...

To be clear, my critique of the decision isn't directed at the merits of reversionary rights for songwriters or other artists. The issue is that U.S. courts can’t dictate the copyright laws and policies of foreign countries (some of which have their own copyright reversion laws).

The worst copyright decision of 2024 just took an early lead for the worst copyright decision of 2025. copyrightlately.com/vetter-v-res...

Rightsholders for Hergé asserted this weekend that Tintin’s earliest works haven’t entered the U.S. public domain—despite law that says otherwise. They join a growing list of estates making dubious claims to retain expired copyrights. Up now on Copyright Lately. copyrightlately.com/public-domai...

A jury sided with Apple, M. Night Shyamalan, and others in the "Servant" copyright trial, finding they lacked access to Francesca Gregorini’s indie film "The Truth About Emanuel." No access = no copying = no infringement. Full story on Copyright Lately! copyrightlately.com/jury-clears-...

On the same day last week, two Southern District of New York judges issued copyright rulings with sharply different results, fueling one big embedding debate. What does it mean for content creators and publishers? Full story up now on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/sdny-social-...

A high-stakes trial begins today over M. Night Shyamalan's "Servant," as Francesca Gregorini claims the Apple TV+ series infringes the #copyright in her 2013 film. Rarely do these cases reach a jury, making this one to watch. Full story on Copyright Lately: copyrightlately.com/gregorini-ap...

Find out who’s taking home Copyright Lately‘s gold medal for the Worst Copyright Decision of 2024. *gold medal not included. copyrightlately.com/the-5-worst-...

Popeye is now in the public domain in NY, but I'm hearing rumors that folks in LA are getting C&D letters for being too quick on the trigger. 🙃 copyrightlately.com/public-domai...

I’m thrilled to share the (very surprising!) news that Copyright Lately has been chosen by the Library of Congress for its Legal Blawgs Web Archive. I’m so grateful for the honor to have the site preserved as part of this historic archive. Thank you to everyone who's read and supported the site!

"If taken seriously, Vetter would upend countless international agreements, devalue foreign grants, and breach U.S. treaty obligations. In short, it’s a recipe for global copyright chaos." Global chaos in general seems to be the order of the day, but hope remains in the appeal.

Another interesting tidbit Jennifer shared with me last week: she and her team at Duke found a June 1931 comic strip where Popeye talks about eating spinach for the first time. They couldn't find a timely © renewal, so perhaps Popeye's "spinach superpower" is already in the PD?

Very cool to be quoted alongside Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain, in @hiltzikm.bsky.social's latest column, which discusses the often convoluted copyright rules surrounding works entering the public domain on January 1.

The 5 Worst Copyright Decisions of 2024: Time to reveal my picks for the most baffling, ill-considered, and wrongly decided copyright rulings of the year. copyrightlately.com/the-5-worst-...

"Who's Suing Who?" @knibbs.bsky.social at @wired.com has a new piece out today, with a scorecard featuring some handy visualizations of all of the pending AI copyright lawsuits:

Battle of the Beige: As two influencers duke it out in court over allegations of copying a minimalist aesthetic on social media, broader questions emerge about creativity, commerce, and copyright. My take, up now on Copyright Lately! copyrightlately.com/social-media...

Thank you @mcuban.bsky.social for sharing my article - much appreciated!

Copyright Unwrapped: It’s the most wonderful time of the year for public domain fans. Check out my deep dive into the new (old) works entering the U.S. public domain on January 1, 2025—up now on Copyright Lately! copyrightlately.com/public-domai... #copyright #publicdomain2025 #publicdomain

I’d like to wish all of my new Bluesky friends a very happy and infringement-free Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is about more than just stuffing yourself with simple carbs and passing out on the couch in the middle of the afternoon. It’s also about being thankful you didn’t end up in court over turkey reheating instructions. copyrightlately.com/a-five-cours...